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The 2020 #EndSARS protests in Nigeria gained global attention. The protests drawn thousands of youths to the streets in a wave of rolling fury that built into one of the largest demonstrations for years in the country. Unlike previous protests in the country, the 2020 year's protests played out across social networks in a buildup of videos, images, and stories on Twitter Facebook, and other platforms displaying pictures and footage from the streets. This study employed the Social Network Theory in identifying the influence of social media as a strategy for protest movements and for the diffusion of information about #EndSARS and the sustenance of this movement over a long period, despite forces that have tried to silence it. This study argued that the sustenance of protests such as #EndSARS over a long period was dependent on factors such as: (i) that some individuals were more resistant to being influenced than others; (ii) that some individuals tended to be more responsive than others; and (iii) that some individuals seemed to be more affected than others (and were, therefore, more likely to pass the information on to others). The findings revealed that protesters used emotional dynamics, collective identities, symbolic artifacts, and mutual values to sustain protests if their demands were not met on time.

This article reports the findings of a research that explored the role of adult literacy in community development. The research sought to contribute to literacy scholarship by providing empirical evidence on the age-long debate on the role of adult literacy in community development. The research was framed by two theories—literacy as social practice and people-centred development—that provided the lens with which the data was collected, analysed and interpreted. The qualitative case study design was used to enable the collection of data in a natural setting and understand the focus of the research from the perspectives of the research participants. The findings suggest that adult literacy may not necessarily lead to community development. The article concludes that no matter how effectively adult literacy classes are organised, without community-based, people-led, self-reliant development, some people will insist that the government takes responsibility for development even with the small things they can do themselves.

The leaders of Boko Haram, the late Muhammad Yusuf, and Abubakar Shekau employed political rhetoric in their sermons and speeches in line with the tradition of leaders of Al-Qaeda and other forerunners of Jihadism. Applying the theory of semantic fields, this paper presents a lexical-semantic analysis of texts of Boko Haram and compares them with those of other Jihadists. The texts used are multiple transcripts from video messages of the leaders of Boko Haram, beginning with those of Muhammad Yusuf, even before the sect became violent, up to and including Abubakar Shekau's speeches as of 2015. This investigation has discovered that politics is ingrained in the rhetoric of the sect's leaders in spite of the fact that they claim to oppose Western democracy. Instead of using political rhetoric to struggle from political power, the sect uses political language to incite their followers against politicians, irrespective of their religious affiliation, and political leadership in Nigeria and in other parts of the world. This work recommends that Islamic religious leaders and teachers should counter the hate-filled political language of Boko Haram by providing the contextual and correct interpretation of scriptures used by the sect to control the minds of their followers.

Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, who was killed in May 2021, had been leading the Boko Haram sect since 2010 constantly makes pronouncements that have become of interest to the Nigerian government and the general public, but his idiolect and accompanying linguistic idiosyncrasies have not been studied for the purpose of forensic investigation. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, this study has examined transcripts of his pronouncements and identified the stylistic devices Shekau uses in the delivery of his sermons and other pronouncements. This work will be of great value to the intelligence and judicial agencies as it would enhance future investigations into the authenticity of pronouncements purportedly made by Shekau.

Social movements that challenge political infrastructures require substantial themes that resonate with the masses. The #ThisFlag movement was the first massive post-independent social media engendered protest that left an indelible mark on Zimbabwean politics and history. This study deem the movement the 'cult of Mawarire' due to the centrality of compelling issues used in galvanizing the masses to action. The cult is a reactionary force navigating sacrosanct issues of identity, politics, and nationalism as inscribed in the flag and the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. To make meaning of the messages conveyed by Evan Mawarire, the study references to the videos posted by the pastor on his Facebook and Twitter accounts which can also be found on YouTube.