Whenever the State has to unleash naked force, the most lethal instrument in its arsenal to deal with an unarmed citizen, that in itself is an admission of the state’s hollowness. A State, which has to bare its Leviathan fangs to compel civil obedience, when it lacks the competence ensure the well being of its citizens, is advertising its emptiness and its lack of content to project productive influence. The foregoing is a pertinent point to make because even leading theorists on the State and Society concede the State’s role as the aggregation of powers of the multiplicity of interests, which make up society. In other words, the State unifies the various coercive tendencies, so that it can act on behalf of the whole. Fundamental to the existence of the State therefore is the primacy of its role as the protector of the security, welfare and well-being of all interests, which have surrendered to it, there respective tendencies of coercion. Therefore, when the State fails to meet its obligations of securing life and property; and reasonably securing the welfare of those within its sphere, it becomes illegitimate to use the same powers vested in it to compel civil obedience.
Watching the video of the Gestapo-patterned raid on the residence of Omoyele Sowore, there is no mistaken the fact the referendum is not about the person of the activist or strategies he has adopted for his cause. The verdict is on the Nigerian State, especially its already well-advertised lack of competence and capacity to grapple with the core issues affecting citizens. It is a well-worn conclusion that the Nigerian State has failed abysmally to address the most fundamental of all contradictions that assail it. The Nigeria’s diversity, which should be a resource of immense value has been turned into a recipe for concocting a poisonous cocktail of national destabilization. Ethnic nationalities are at daggers drawn because there is no comprehensive grievance redress mechanism, and the Buhari administration’s lethargic response to issues tugging at the fabric of the country’s chords of fragile unity is enabling irredentists across the polity. Talks about the dismemberment of the entity called Nigeria have never been more deafening since the return to civil rule in 1999.
By far the most alarming of the issues facing the country is the spate of insecurity, manifesting in such violent crimes like kidnapping, armed banditry, and terrorism in the North East. It is so bad that across the country citizens, including supposed protectors of the nation’s territorial integrity are being mowed down with benumbing cheapness by terrorists, bandits and other elements, which have vowed to undermine national peace.
On the highways of Nigeria, citizens travel in fear as kidnappers and different shades of marauders stalk, maiming and murdering innocent travelers in droves. Those who mange to escape with their lives have to live with lifelong scars of the dehumanization suffered in the hands of the criminal gangs constantly on the prowl. On the watch of the State millions of unemployed youths see their best years passing before their very eyes without the hope of work to do. Education has collapsed so badly that those “governing” the country cannot entrust the education of their children to the very country they rule over. We see this in the competition by public officials to display pictures of their children graduating from top universities outside the shores of this country. As we speak over 13 million out of school children roam the streets of our country, growing up to feed the ranks of terrorists, and consolidating the wave of chronic insecurity. In terms of the basic necessitates, which inspire decent existence, from electricity to potable water and roads, citizens have for long given up on the system. The reality of the Nigerian, no matter how much money he commands, remains as nasty as hell. Make no mistake about it; no one can reasonably claim these challenges, came up overnight or that they will be addressed with a magic wand. Yet, it is the role of the State to project a vision, and convince citizens it is possible to turn a page on those grotesque realities. It is part of the State’s responsibility to inspire the people of this country with a convincing road map, and a blue print for action to solve these challenges. Therefore the State has to play its role or else risk more challenge to its suzerainty as we see in many of the depravities of groups like Boko Haram.
This put in the context the dispatch and speed with which the State rushed to haul Sowore into detention. Why the same urgency couldn’t be applied to tackle the challenges of governance, which is the core of Sowore’s activism is a key poser for the State. It is therefore pertinent to state that if even half of the crude efficiency with which Sowore was hauled into DSS detention had been applied to painstakingly seeking and implementing solutions to the real questions of good governance, the country may well be on the road to salvation. In the end therefore, whether you agree with Sowore’s motive, tactics or his strategies is beside the point. In fact, many have reservations or even outright disagreement with his methodology; however the most critical outcome of the latest debacle is the clarion call for the State to focus on the message about the urgent need for quality leadership, which will translate to good governance. The State should grapple with the message, which is well delivered, not just in Sowore’s #RevolutionNow, but in the endless groaning of citizens. Hounding one of the many perceived stubborn messengers is not productive use of the State’s resources. And it will not make the issues fueling agitation go away. Therefore, if the State insists on strong armed tactics as it is doing already by muzzling and brutalizing protesters, it may only enforce the peace of the graveyard, which in the real sense adds to the current state of anomie.
