This comparative study applies Benoit's functional campaign discourse theory, presented for the US, and illocutions theory, to the televised governorship discussion of Lagos State. It tries to puzzle out a sequence present in Nigerian debate varying from what is accessible in US political debate. Key functions of Nigerian campaign discourse are employed in an opposite order, attacks are pragmatically encoded and it is addressed what illocutionary forms candidates deploy when apprising voters of an opponent’s possible costs/debility.