Violence is an act of force and defiance against a perceived oppressor, aggressor or irritant to make that entity stop an imposition or forced act of coercion. In politics it is either against a government or its agents by refusing to obey such government known policies or setting up a resistance that may be reflected in the use of force of arms or ammunition. Yet government is expected to have a monopoly of violence in maintaining its rule within a given territorial area. If government cannot have a monopoly of power it is soon overthrown in what is called in political parlance a military coup, where and when soldiers subvert democracy. Such coups are no longer fashionable as we have seen with the recent one in Mali where the international community asked the soldiers to have a date for restoring democracy and retreating into the barracks there after. But democracy, when it lacks legitimacy in terms of rigged elections is also an invitation to violence as the 1962 Action Group crisis in the former Western Region of Nigeria has shown in being the precursor of the military coup of 1966, subsequent military interventions and the Nigerian civil war thereafter.
Today we look at events in Nigeria and the widespread insecurity in the North with which Northern leaders have agreed is beyond the capacity and strength of the Nigerian army, and mercenaries should be brought in to redress the situation. Even the army has conceded that outside forces bent on destroying Nigeria, are behind Boko Haram and the failure of the army to defeat the insurgency. In doing this analysis we bear in mind the immense diversity of the Nigerian nation which has resulted in the adoption of the national motto – Unity in Diversity.
We examine also the rigging charges of US President Donald on the legitimacy of the November 3 2020 elections and consequences of that for the Biden presidency. We also take a peep at Ethiopia where a civilian PM has used the army decisively and successfully to defeat a regional insurgency in the Northern part of Ethiopia and wonder why that cannot be replicated with the Nigerian army which has been fighting the Boko Haram insurgency with the terrorists waxing stronger over the years and expending their scope instead.
Let us now go back to Nigeria and the issue of pervasive violence and insecurity especially in the North. Without mincing words Northern leaders have themselves to blame for the simple reason that the North has been in power far more than any part of the nation and efforts and institutions and structures have been put in place for the Northern populace and masses to benefit from that power. It is a clear case of abdication of responsibility and the Northern leadership losing touch with the peasants and the masses hence the Northern people see Boko Haram, bandits and terrorists like Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Like a Northern leader said, the bandits buy food in the market and get change and the people know them as they move freely with their rifles dangling on their shoulders.
Unfortunately the last genuine Northern leaders that the Northern masses loved were the Sardauna of Sokoto the late Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Northern Region then, Aminu Kano, leader of the Takalawas of Kano. Since then Northern youths have become pauperized and uneducated while their leaders ruled the entire nation most of the time either as military generals and civilian leaders while metamorphosing into senators and legislators in flowing brocades and long caps while their people suffered in huge misery and poverty. These youths became food for fodder for recruitment by Boko Haram bandits and other insurgents who gave them shelter food and arms when government failed them on both accounts. It is like a friend in need is a friend indeed. It is similar to the return of the Mafia in the recent pandemic lockdown when the Mafia got food and supplies to hungry Italians before their government and the Mafia which is still banned resuscitated and gained unexpected acceptance and recognition from beneficiaries of its largesse and magnanimity. Government really is about a social contract which requires the government to secure the lives and properties of its citizens and be prepared lose such obligation and loyalty leading to the destruction of such social contract if it fails to fulfill the terms and conditions of such social contract. That is the onerous responsibility of government to earn the legitimacy that a free and fair election confers on it. In a Nigerian political culture characterized by rigging and in which the masses were mobilized to get power, the neglect of such masses by those it got into power is bound to galvanise a violent backlash which is the spectacle that is at play in the marauders, terrorists and bandits that have turned Northern Nigeria into a veritable bloody killing field right before our eyes. The ball is in the court of Northern Nigerian leaders to play ball and arrest the situation or pass the ball to those who have the balls to redeem the suffering masses of Northern Nigeria. The alternative is a leadership hara-kiri or sheer political suicide.
On the American election that the American president insists is rigged, one should not be surprised by his insistence. During the campaigns for 2016 presidential elections that he won and in which he lambasted Hillary Clinton as Crooked Hillary, he said the election would be rigged but he won and shut up. He has said the same thing after the November 3 election although this time he seems to have lost the election. On legitimacy, Trump is like the boy who shouted wolf while there was none and he cannot destroy Joe Biden’s legitimacy because he had shot his own legitimacy in the leg in the way and manner he claimed his presidency in 2016 after declaiming the election as rigged. As the lawyers would say’ he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’. This however should be separated from his legitimacy war with the anti Trump media like CNN and New York Times which never gave him legitimacy claiming from the day he was sworn in that he was helped by the Russians, and that riled him no end and he branded them fake news which led to the war of verbal attrition and mutual destruction that has now made him a one term president after an election he claimed was controversially rigged. Obviously Trump underestimated the power of the media and that has cost him the election and destroyed his legitimacy in their eyes. While they now switch loyalty, love and attention to magnify a Biden Legitimacy with the same zeal with which they mowed down furiously for four years, a Trump legitimacy of office.
The quelling of a rebellion in Ethiopia by a civilian , democratic president is a recipe for security and responsive and responsible governance that I would recommend for any political system especially Nigeria. And really that was like the Nigerian civil war although that was prosecuted by a military ruler, General Yakubu Gowon the favourite military ruler of my generation. The slogan was – To make Nigeria one is a task that must be done and that task was achieved after all. The Nigerian army also intervened at the head of ECOMOG in Liberia and this was something Nigerians recall with pride. Actually this was the pedigree of our army and explained why we thought Boko Haram would be vaporized like Maitasine only to be embarrassed by an undefeatable Boko Haram . Yet Government must achieve this task with its army and the sooner the better. That is the lesson from Ethiopia and that is a task that the Nigerian government and army must achieve now to save its reputation and legitimacy. Once again – From the fury of this raging pandemic, Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.
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