Umar Bello* Metaphors we are robbed by: a critical discourse analysis of ‘the national cake’ and Nigeria’s prebendal elite https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0130 Received July 6, 2020; accepted February 24, 2022; published online March 21, 2022 Abstract: This paper focuses on aspects of Nigerian corrupt practices and how perceptions of public service and leadership responsibilities are framed linguis- tically, or discursively, around predatory elitist interests. It is based on two pre- mises. The first pertains to the ways in which the national wealth is metaphorically called the national cake, and how it is viewed as an object that elicits consumption. Textual data is generated from 19 national newspapers and blogs that show 85 occurrences of the term the national cake. The surrounding contexts of the term indicate that national wealth is eatable, shareable and is spatially located. The second premise relates to how the Nigerian elite use metonymic associations to make themselves serve as the aggregate of, or shorthand to, the geographical, partisan and religious interests of the country. This stand-for relationship plays a prominent role in establishing contiguous representations which aid (conceptual) proximity to the national cake. This study uses critical metaphor analysis, corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to demystify the facts about Nigeria’s national life otherwise overlaid by ideology. Keywords: corpus linguistics; critical discourse analysis; critical metaphor anal- ysis; idealized cognitive model; national cake; prebendalism 1 Introduction The basic objective of this paper is to shed light on Nigeria’s corruption at high levels and to see how discourse may be involved in easing and normalizing the Umar Bello holds an MA in English Linguistics from Birmingham City University and a PhD (Linguistics and English Language) from Rhodes University, South Africa. His areas of research interests include CDA, corpus linguistics, political discourse analysis, and social theory. *Corresponding author: Umar Bello, English Language & Prep. Year Institute, Jubail Industrial College, Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu, PO BOX 10099, Jubail Industrial City, 31961, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, E-mail: bello.umar@gmail.com. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0173- 5175 Text&Talk 2022; aop author's copy