For this study, Downing/Locke’s (2006) approach to modality is adopted; the linguistic realisations, as provided by the duo, are presented below:

(1) The lexical modal auxiliaries which usually entails another element (be/have+lexical) + toinfinitive e. g. be likely to, have got to

(2) The semi-modals need and dare

(3) Lexical verbs e. g. suggest, guarantee

(4) The verb conveying non-factual meaning e. g. wonder, wish

(5) Modal adverbs e. g. possibly, certainly, probably

(6) Modal adjectives e. g. possible, likely

(7) Modal nouns e. g. chance, likelihood

(8) Parentheticals e. g. I think, I guess

(9) The use of the past tense to indicate remoteness from reality as in I thought you’d love to eat now, if you are not reading.

Fowler (1986: 76f.) explains that language affords us the opportunity to convey our attitude towards everything we say. Bonyadi (2011: 1f.) explains that modality plays a key role in newspaper editorial as “editorial writers tend to make use of this property to establish either a favourable or unfavourable bias throughout the text to manipulate their readers’ opinion”. News editorials are commonly devoid of explicit authorial presence (especially, first and second person pronouns) because such writings are expected to be objective. However, there are traces of authorial subjectivity in these writings. Since editorials are usually opinionated, a number of modal expressions would be employed to achieve the intended purposes. Mostly, the overriding intentions of editorials are to criticise supposedly ill-actions, vices and decisions and proffer solutions to them. Also, editorials may be used to persuade the readers to take specific, positive actions. A study of modality in newspaper editorials is important because it helps to signal the interpersonal meaning of the text. It is against this background that analysis will investigate the modality markers commonly employed in editorials on insecurity and what roles such serve in relating the messages of these kinds of writings.

The editorials made use of both epistemic modal auxiliaries and deontic modal auxiliaries. While some of the occurrences of the epistemic modals were used to signal possibilities and probabilities (reflecting low convictions and weak authorial commitments to propositional contents), the majority of the occurrences of the modal auxiliaries were used to signal logical necessity and prediction, reflecting high editorial commitments to segments of the securityrelated discourse. Conversely, while only a few of the occurrences of the deontic modals were used to signal prohibitions and expectations (reflecting the newspapers’ low involvement in some of the editorial contents), the majority of the occurrences of the modal auxiliaries were used to signal obligation and necessity (marking a high degree of editorial participation in the discourse and a strong reflection of editorial power and authority).

Must .not), should .not), and ought .not. to were classified as necessity modal auxiliaries. Although these three modals seem to have the same truth proposition, the latter, as used in the editorials, presented opinions more like subtle recommendations compared to the first two which explicitly expressed strong obligations or necessities. Ought to had only a total of 0.4% appearances across the sixty editorials because, unlike other necessity modals, it focused on past expectations and seemed to dwell on the past. An explanation for its minimal occurrence could be that it also signalled a low forcefulness based on the deontic scale and was not instrumental in pushing the editorials’ intentions.

Ought to focused on what the newspapers expect key participants to have done or put in place in lessening previous incidents of security challenges in Nigeria as seen in MOD1-2 below.

MOD1: Unconventional war may be new to the country, but the intelligence apparatus ought to, by now, have overcome, initial setback and become proactive in operations to stave off senseless attacks on hapless Nigerians such as the one on the mosque […] While the efforts of the Nigerian security forces in containing the insurgency in the northern part of the country are commendable, the security forces ought to assume more offensive posture in engaging the fundamentalist.

(“The Terror Attack in Kano Mosque”. The Guardian, 12.12.2014)

MOD2: Wisdom ought to dictate that the authorities should discourage huge gatherings of people because they are primary targets of attacks by terrorists.

( “Checking Boko Haram’s Renewed Offensive”. The Sun, 20.07.2015)

MOD3: Farmers do not owe herdsmen a living and ought not to be expected to sacrifice their crops to feed the cows of the herdsmen.

(“Time to Build Cattle Ranches”. The Sun, 15.10.2015)

The modal auxiliaries in bold letters afforded Nigerian news organisations the opportunity to challenge the proactiveness of security operatives in the country towards decimating recurring security issues. Of the six newspapers chosen, only The Guardian and The Sun made choices of ought to, and these occurred in excerpts from editorials on Boko Haram’s activities and herdsmen’s attacks between 2014 and 2015. Ought to in MOD1 and MOD2 implicatively extend from the past to the present in that it has an added discursive function of advisability. Conversely, the modals were implicitly used to project the attitude of the media to the activities of anti-terrorism agencies towards insurgency in Nigeria. Since these security issues has lingered for a while in the country and the turn of events has probably been the same, the modal verbs are subtly used to portray the security operatives as lax, unperceptive towards the activities of Boko-Haram insurgents and violent herdsmen. The use of these modal auxiliaries is ideological in that they depicted failure and ineptness on the parts of the Nigerian intelligence agencies and security forces in inhibiting the myriads of insurgency in the Northern Nigeria. Thus, ought to was used to cast doubt on the efforts of the Nigerian security system in handling the Boko Haram sect and violent herdsmen. The Guardian exploited this modal auxiliary to deride the inert technique of the Nigerian security forces in battling insurgency in the north and to justify the loose procedure as the reason for the continuity of these nefarious activities in the northern region of Nigeria. Ideologically, the modal verb ought to is used to charge the security operatives to change their tactics and appropriate the right approach to curbing the menace.

In MOD3, the use of ought not to was The Sun’s deontic approach to discredit a possible preexisting idea that the herdsmen’s cattle are at liberty to graze on any farmland. Ideologically, the newspaper tilts towards a defence of the rights of the farmers and the safety of their crops. Thus, the farmers are projected as the victims in the attacks. The Sun’s negative attitude towards the herdsmen is projected in the use of the modal auxiliary in this excerpt. The Sun maintained sympathy with the farmers by emphasising what should not be expected of them and deemphasising what measures farmers should have put in place.

Although ought to was minimally used across all the editorials because it seemed to dwell on the past, its minimal occurrences were still influential in leading readers into agreeing with the newspapers’ views on security challenges in Nigeria. Ought not to”, as used in the editorial, marked less forcefulness on the deontic scale of certainty. Other modal markers that helped to project the intentions of the newspapers were sufficiently employed. Must .not) and should .not) are markers of explicit obligations and had higher percentages of occurrence across the editorials. All the newspapers, except Vanguard, had should .not) as the modal auxiliary with the highest occurrence, which was closely followed by must .not). Bonyadi (2011: 1f.) asserts that editorials exploit the modality system to project favourable or unfavourable bias and reflect or obscure their projections in relation to their ideologies, as the case may be, in order to manipulate the minds of their readers.

MOD4: The authorities must sensitise the nomads on the Pastoral Code and ensure that boundaries between pastoral lands and farmlands are clearly demarcated.

(“Killing in Defence of Cattle, Crops”. Leadership, 29.01.2014)

MOD5: […] the present militants must determine the real cost of their activities on their immediate environment and already beleaguered people on whose behalf they are supposedly undertaking their dangerous exertions.

(“The FG/Niger Delta Militants Dialogue”. The Sun, 04.09.2016)

MOD6: President Goodluck Jonathan himself being a “son of the soil” must publicly show interest in MEND’s claims of the amnesty being another avenue for corrupt politicians to perfect their sleaze mentality.

(”Niger Delta: Before another Assault”. The Guardian, 30.05.2014)

MOD7: President Buhari must personally take control of the Niger Delta, home of the nation’s economic mainstay, and make the region’s rehabilitation a personal assignment […] He must move nearer the people and personally assure them of his commitment against the background of distrust of past governments’ intentions. The total liberation of the Niger Delta from poverty, unemployment, backwardness and illiteracy must be his priority.

(“On the Niger Delta and Amnesty Programme”. The Guardian, 11.08.2015)

MOD4–7 above depict the use of deontic modality by news agencies in Nigeria to influence the government and citizens to behave in certain ways that they consider would be beneficial to the peace and security of the nation. The auxiliaries were used to signal exigent, non-negotiable actions, indubitable measures or actions that should be embarked on if the lives and properties as well as the peace of the nation would be guaranteed. The excerpts are typical of the expression of deontic meanings by news organisations (who are considered advocates of the grassroot majority). The deontic modal must and its verbal collocates sensitise and ensure in MOD4 are used by Leadership to charge the Nigerian government to take drastic measures to disallow recurrent invasion of the herdsmen in order for peace to abide between herders and farmers who are both Agricultural land users. The editorial projected that an end to herdsmen attacks was only possible, if grazing reserves were mapped out and herdsmen were informed about existing grazing codes in the country. Implicitly, the modal auxiliary showed Leadership’s positive disposition to the enactment of the National Grazing Bill under consideration in the National Assembly as a way out of the incessant spates of attacks. The use of must in MOD5-7 show the typical way that an influential person speaks to people over which it has influence. The excerpts are those on the Niger-Delta militancy in Nigeria. In MOD5, The Sun used must to implicitly perform a persuasive role on the Niger Delta militants and entreat them to reflect on the enormity of disaster facing the Niger Delta people and region as a result of their activities. The ideological function of this modal auxiliary is heightened with the postverbal nominals the real cost and beleaguered people. Although the newspaper represents the interest of the South-South people and what they stand for, its use of the modal auxiliary projected the newspaper’s negative disposition to, and a detachment from, the activities of the Niger Delta militants. Thus, The Sun used must, on the one hand, to subtly inject a rethink into the minds of the militants while pushing, on the other hand, for an ultimate eradication of Niger Delta militancy.

MOD 6 and 7 mirrored the judgements and attitudes of The Guardian on the Jonathan and Buhari-led administrations towards militancy in the Niger Delta region. In MOD6, must as used presupposed that Goodluck Jonathan had been estranged from the concerns of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND). MEND is an umbrella body of the Niger Delta militants and had repeatedly perceived the amnesty programme as a fraudulent means for corrupt politicians to syphon public funds into their private pockets. Must is ideological as its use was intended to impel President Jonathan to address the concerns of the Niger Delta militants and re-evaluate the essence of the amnesty programme in order to curb potential outburst of threats powered by the amnesty programme. In MOD7, The Guardian employed the repetitive instances of must to charge President Buhari to genuinely show interest in the welfare of the Niger Delta people. The newspaper positioned the Buhari administration as insensitive and depicted an apathetic attitude of the Buhari-led administration to the varying degrees of hardship by the Niger Delta people. In MOD7 and 8, The Guardian newspaper’s use of the modal auxiliary depicted Presidents Jonathan and Buhari as merely paying lip service to the needs of the Niger Delta people and implicitly blamed the continuous rebellious attacks from this region on the negligence of both administrations.

The newspapers employed must to reflect editorial power by accentuating actions to be taken up by the Nigerian government. Must was also used in the editorials to dissuade militants from their various activities, project an insensitive image of the Nigerian government towards the Niger Delta people and finally challenge the Nigerian government to ensure it curbs insecurity in Nigeria.

The newspapers also employed the modal auxiliary should to portray certain ideological positions as in the examples below.

MOD8: Nigerians should change from apathy to continually living in painful remembrance of the girls, […] the painful suspense of their condition should worry all; their unexplainable absence should trouble all, and the pain and unimaginable sorrow of their parents and family members should feel all with anguish. That the government and authorities are, as of yet, incapacitated and clueless about their state, should frighten all. And if the Nigerian government or any public official is privy to the situation of the Chibok girls and is keeping mum, Nigerians should feel betrayed and used by such. As a year ends today since the abduction, Nigerians should keep the Chibok Girls alive in their memories by insisting that the girls must be found and brought back home.

(“Chibok Girls: One year After”. The Guardian, 14.04.2015)

MOD9: In Nigeria, the law should be reviewed and strengthened to make cattle rustling a serious crime punishable by severe penalties.

(“Arresting the Menace of Cattle Rustling”. Daily Trust, 05.02.2014)

MOD10: The military should not be used in dealing with protests of this nature that do not portend danger […] Government should also dialogue with the agitating groups with a view to addressing their grievances […]

(“The Killing of the Pro-Biafra Agitator”. The Sun, 08.06.2016)

In MOD8, the modal verb should is used seven times in the short text by The Guardian newspaper in admonishing Nigerians to take the issue of the abducted Chibok girls, still in custody, more seriously. Such usage of modals shows how power is subtly coded in the use of deontic modals by language users. The recurring instances of should were employed to perform multiple ideological functions. First, The Guardian employed the modal verb to provoke the reactions of Nigerians and control what their attitudes should be towards the abduction of the Chibok girls. Thus, the repeated occurrences of the modal verbs are influential to stirring the public to seek immediate release of the girls from the Nigerian government. The newspaper uses this to create an impression that the government is indifferent towards the release of the girls. The media employed structural parallelism should […] all to stress how Nigerians should emotionally position themselves towards the release of the abducted Chibok girls. The frequent use of this parallel structure lent the newspaper’s suggestions an autocratic tone and read more like a regulation than mere recommendations. The overriding intention was to create an unquenchable longing for the release of the abducted girls. In MOD9, Daily Trust’s judgement on the Nigerian law was made explicit through the modal auxiliary should. Through the modal auxiliary, the Nigerian law is depicted as obsolete and in dire need for an imperative modification so as to be able to accommodate new trends of security challenges in Nigeria. Ideologically, the newspaper accuses the Nigerian governments of handling fresh security challenges with old tactics. In MOD10, should not was used to explicitly condemn the deployment of armed military personnel to peaceful protests, as is common in the Nigerian situation. The Sun implicitly marked the demonstrations of Pro-Biafra agitators as legitimate ways to express the minds of beleaguered Nigerians on issues that bother on their welfare. Thus, the newspaper upheld impishly the interests of the Biafra people and indirectly expressed support for their plights and protests. In addition, should was used in that same excerpt to signal the newspaper’s attempt to prevent impending threats that may break out as a result of the ProBiafra agitators’ perceived hatred for the south easterners and the undeserved killings of their colleagues by the Nigerian military. The print media projected the feeling that the Igbos may be forced to take laws into their own hands and attempt to avenge the deaths of their fellowagitators. The choice of should is thus informed by the print media’s concern for potential crises. Should showed that Nigerian newspapers, even though they tried to project necessities, projected a median degree of epistemic commitment to their recommendations.

The modality markers would .not) were also employed to mark the attitudes of the newspapers to certain issues in the editorials analysed. It is important to note that all the lexical items highlighted in the excerpts are done by the author for empahsis and easy identification.

MOD11: Without doubt, such effort at community-level self-defence would raise awareness at grassroots that the continuous peace and safety of the community is the responsibility of everyone in the community.

(“The Kala/Balge Pushback against Insurgents”. Daily Trust, 26.05.2014)

MOD12: Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has put the task before the President in proper perspective. “I’ve yet to hear this government articulate a firm policy of non-tolerance for the serial massacres that have become the nation’s identification stamp,” Soyinka says. “The nation is treated to an eighteen-month optimistic plan which, to make matters worse, smacks of abject appeasement and encouragement of violence on innocents. I’ve yet to encounter a terse, rigorous, soldierly and uncompromising language from this leadership […].” This resonates with Nigerians who desire that their President would behave like a true leader with a grasp of what to do.

(“Treating Violent Herdsmen as Terrorists”. The Punch, 06.05.2016)

The uses of the modal auxiliary would in the excerpts above relate the newspapers’ biases and predictions towards certain recommendations and governmental attitudes. In MOD11 the modal auxiliary would foregrounded Daily Trust’s positive disposition to community-level selfdefence, as a way to end Boko Haram insurgency. The newspaper’s choice of a positive high degree predictive modal auxiliary of this nature attributed such an act to mere push-back, selfconsciousness and self-protective measure against insurgency. The print media’s positive affirmation of the result of community-level self-defence through the modal would encouraged grass-root violence in Kala/Balge communities and the entire northern region. Daily Trust’s disposition is a spite on the Nigerian security force, who are generally assumed to be lethargic towards the warnings of impending attacks, and reflects the newspaper’s clear and firm consideration of self-defence as apposite to awakening self-consciousness and sensitisation in the troubled communities. Would in MOD12 projects The Punch’s non-perception of Buhari as “a true leader” or as someone capable of managing Nigeria’s peculiar security challenges. Being a newspaper situated in south-west Nigeria, the newspaper’s choice of the modal auxiliary depicts the president as one who shares some tribal sentiments with the herders and deficient of a clear and objective decision on the farmers-herders’ crises in the country. The modal auxiliary thus expresses The Punch’s negative disposition towards the Buhari-led administration and projects it as an insensitive government especially in relation to the spates of herdsmen attacks. The Punch thus portrayed Buhari as lacking the qualities of a true leader, among which empathy is.

The modality markers can .not) and could were also employed to mark the attitudes of the newspapers to certain issues in the editorials analysed.

MOD13: We cannot bring terrorists to account when we place personal and political considerations above millions of lives at risk. The lives at risk could be anyone’s as the indiscriminate attacks have proved. The war against terrorists can be won when we are pulling together.

(“Nothing Shocks Again”. Vanguard, 30.06.2014)

MOD14: Nigeria can learn a lot from Special Forces in the West with many success stories in anti-terrorism operations, which include the US Navy SEAL, Israel’s Sayeret MATKAL, and the United Kingdom’s Special Air Service.

(“Imperative of an Anti-Terrorism Task Force”. The Punch, 30.08.2015)

The negative modal cannot was used in MOD13 to condemn the slackness of the government to insurgency and to categorically state the difficulty the Nigerian government would face in bringing Boko Haram insurgents to book if it is not ridden of personal and political aggrandisement. At the time this editorial was written, much attention was placed on jingles on who becomes the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015 to the neglect of issues on national security. In the excerpt, Vanguard also used could to push the possibility of any Nigerian losing his/her life to the Boko Haram group, irrespective of status.

The overriding intention here was to project the feeling of lack of security and restiveness in Nigerians and push the seeming unconcerned government to action in eliminating the Boko Haram insurgents once and for all. Can was implicitly used to consciously draw in all Nigerians in the fight against the Boko Haram sect. Can, though ranking lowest on the epistemic modality scale, was instrumental in projecting guaranteed victory over the sect if every Nigerian joins in the fight. In MOD14, can was used to project The Punch’s positive disposition to an auspicious result of the incorporation of Foreign Special Forces in the fight against Boko Haram based on past successes in handling similar situations. The modal auxiliary, on the one hand, mirrored the media’s positive disposition towards the involvement of these special forces and, on the other hand, disparaged the efforts of the Nigerian security forces over the insurgents.

All the newspaper editorials analysed calculated the degree of commitment accrued to their propositions based on the extent of precision and reliability that was at their disposal as seen in the excerpts below.

MOD15 The stealing of cattle has evolved over the years into a dangerous and sometimes bloody activity in Nigeria.

(“Arresting the Menace of Cattle Rustling”. Daily Trust, 05.02.2014

MOD16: Perhaps, for the first time since Muhammadu Buhari assumed power nine months ago, a senior official of the Federal Government has come out to promise action against the threat posed by the so-called “Fulani Herdsmen” […]

(“Danbazzau’s Pledge to Tackle Herdsmen’s Menace”. Vanguard, 02.03.2016)

MOD17: Col. Usman Kukasheka has explained, the operations are still on to capture Point Zero. It is probably after achieving this that we can recover the rest of the abducted girls and apprehend the leadership of the insurgents such as Abubakar Shekau and Abu Musab Al Barnawi.

(“Caution after the Fall of Sambisa Forest”. Vanguard, 28.12.2016)

MOD18: The agitators, made up of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Biafra Independence Movement (BIM), were reportedly killed at various locations in Onitsha during the celebration of the 49th anniversary of the declaration of Republic of Biafra on May 30 […] Two policemen were reportedly killed during the May 30 protests while some soldiers were also wounded.

(“The Killing of the Pro-Biafra Agitators”. The Sun, 08.06.2016)

MOD19: Tiv youths had allegedly killed about 30 cows belonging to some herdsmen that destroyed their farmlands.

(“Killing in Defence of Cattle, Crops”. Leadership, 29.01.2014

In the editorials, modal adverbs were used to signal circumventing expressions. They were employed to function as protective comments in case their speculations were faulted. Because editorials are widely-read columns of the newspaper and the newspapers’ claims and stance on prominent national issues are usually evaluated through a prism of generally known facts, modal adverbs such as sometimes, perhaps and probably were used to lessen the degree of conviction in those claims. In MOD18 and MOD19, the newspapers withheld full commitments to the activities of certain participants in security-focused incidents. The newspapers adopted the modal adverbs reportedly and allegedly in the excerpts so that the information will be interpreted as speculations rather than accredited facts. The print media are aware that misinformation in this sensitive narrations may engender other security issues. Also, editors are not usually present at the scene of events but largely rely on what they are fed with in news reports and thus claim-making may be risky. The use of these modal adverbs is motivated by the desire to maintain a positive face, or rather, the newspaper’s appeal for sympathy from the readers in case any imprecision is discovered. The excerpts showed that both newspapers approached the security issues that emanated from their regions objectively in that they were honest in relating the issues in their regions based on the extent of the knowledge they have. There were no exaggerations in the ways they portrayed the issues.

In the development of arguments, an editorial is supposed to succinctly present facts in a logical manner in such a way that its importance can easily be deduced by the readers (Daramola 1999). Since writings on security challenges seem to keep readers at the edges of their chairs, modal adjectives were used as a means of presenting the truthfulness that certain statements are laced with.

In MOD20, The Punch’s adopts the modal adjective to project the Nigerian government as untruthful in its handling of Boko-Haram insurgents. The newspaper presumed that the release of the abducted Chibok girls may have been facilitated with a monetary exchange between the federal government and the insurgents. Ideologically, the newspaper projects the Nigerian government as culpable of aiding the Boko-Haram sect to thrive in their nefarious activities.

MOD21: Especially in the South-west, where the crime has shifted to, there is the need to come out with special squads to track down kidnappers.

(“Kidnapping: Need for Fresh Approach”. The Punch, 02.10.2015)

MOD22: The foregoing points to the need for a new approach to the Niger Delta issue if the region and the country shall enjoy lasting peace.

(“On Niger Delta Avengers”. Daily Trust, 25.05.2016)

MOD23: The recent announcement that the Federal Government is handling this issue silently does not address the magnitude and urgency of this problem.

(“The Killing of the Pro-Biafra Agitator”. The Sun, 08.06.2016)

The modal noun phrases the need in MOD21 and MOD22 were borne out of the newspapers’ concern for the countless cases of kidnappings and militancy in Nigeria. The modal nouns were deliberately employed in order to heighten a feeling of imperativeness and necessity for these recommendations to be welcomed and carried out. Consequently, it is a call on the government to act fast on the group because their existences may lead to the sprouting of newer militant groups in other parts of the country.

In MOD23, the modal noun phrases the magnitude and urgency were used to portray the killings of Pro-Biafra agitators in Nigeria as a gigantic problem which if not dealt with could crumble the nation. The Sun newspaper seems to share regional affiliation with the pro-Biafran agitators as the newspaper employed the modal noun phrases the magnitude and urgency to heighten the impression of more weighty problems if something is not done about those who killed the south easterners.