MUCH ADO ABOUT EMERGENCY RULE AND THE POWER OF THE MODERN STATE Sequel to the declaration of the state of emergence in the insurgent infested states of Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno by President Jonathan, a lot of individuals and groups who could not hitherto, proffer a lasting panacea to the Boko Haram menace came out with guns blazing, threatening fire and brimstone against the decision of the Federal government which many Nigerians (the author inclusive) felt the military option taken last month was a no-brainer, after the insurgents rebuffed all entreaties of coming to the negotiation table for amnesty, which was totally unnecessary if you ask me. Prominent among the vociferous critiques of the emergency rule were the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), a body comprised of morally flexibly and ignoble people considering their parochial interest which lies only in capturing power in 2015, and the two generalissimos’ of the leading opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the persons of Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Gen. (rtd.) Muhammadu Buhari. Other than rain opprobrious remarks on the FG, all the dissenting voices on the military option have not proffered an alternative option that could put an end to the macabre display of violence as exhibited by these unscrupulous and faceless cannibals. Since these power craving politicians and worthless groups who operate under the guise of advancing national unity and progress have decided to turn a blind eye on the diabolic acts of the insurgents, and have elected to fault the FG’s action by calling it genocidal and subversion of constitutional democracy, it will be appropriate to do some explaining concerning why the President had to do the needful, and also, why the state keeps coercive institutions in a democracy where popular power resides with the people. I will be doing this by advancing my contrary position(s) which will be driven by logic and objectivity rather than attempting to berate the critics. But before that, let’s briefly theorise the modern state by historicising its evolution, which will enable us understand why force is synonymous with the state. To vividly understand why the state survives and operates the way it does in any given society, it is imperative we examine the modern state. To do this, I would like to draw from the works of two prominent scholars: Harold Laski (the British Marxist political theorist), and Max Weber (the Nineteenth century German political sociologist) who took out time to dissect the modern state in Europe, whose modus operandi is not in contradistinction with the state in Africa; or more appropriately, the state in Nigeria. According to Laski, in any human community where anarchy is to be avoided, there must be an organisation that gives orders to all, and receives orders from no one. That organisation according to Laski is the state. His thesis corroborates Weber’s definition of the state which he says is a human community that successfully claims the “monopoly” of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. Even if some would like to argue that force is not the normal means of the state, it is uncontestable that force is a means specific to the state as the philosophical theories of the state like the social contract theory argued that when human community moved from pre-political society to political society, individual members of the community surrendered their power to the new agent of the state that was formed which automatically equipped the state with the monopoly to control coercive powers of the society. The coercive apparatus of the state (Army, Navy, Air force, Police, Immigration, Customs, and State Security Service) are instruments of force which the state deploys to compel obedience from deviants in order to ensure the existence of law and order within the state. It is pertinent also to note that the presence of these coercive institutions supports the government not only in safeguarding democracy, but also in discharging the onerous responsibility of protecting the citizenry from danger, both from within and without. So for those who questioned the use of force in the affected states by the FG, I wish to bring to their notice that from time immemorial, the state as it is today according to Trosky, was founded on force, and “force is necessary in keeping it with the aid of the coercive apparatus in the state” (emphasises mine). This is evident in the evolution of the modern state which started with the signing of the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 which terminated the series of religious wars that wracked Europe and gave birth to the modern state, a state form that later spread to the rest of the world through conquest and subjugation, using colonialism as a potent tool. That said; let’s now return to the crux of our discourse. Considering the enormous powers constitutionally vested in the office of the President and the security instruments at his disposal to check any threat to Nigeria’s corporate existence, one would have expected Mr. President to fall back on the use of force on what appeared to be an attack on Nigeria’s sovereignty from the outset. His protracted laxity irked most Nigerians as the insurgents took advantage of it to unleash their mindless attacks on civilian, military, and police targets; the effects of which were highly devastating. More galling was the energy Mr. Jonathan dissipated in condemning the heinous attacks of the insurgents as they held the country spell bound instead of acting as a Commander-in-Chief was expected to. As the situation exacerbated with minimal response from the FG, it was easy for one to conclude that the security challenge was beyond the FG’s control. The effect of Jonathan’s laxity in nipping the incessant onslaught in the bud was colossal as the insurgents gain the latitude to expand their sphere of influence in the North-Eastern region of the country. In Borno state for instance, they succeeded in taking over 23 out of the 25 local governments in the state and foisted flags, bearing a moon and a star on it. This implied their allegiance was not to the Nigerian state which is under the control of Mr. Jonathan, yet they were living in it. Having captured a substantial part of the North-Eastern region, they embarked on preaching in public places and succeeded in luring gullible minds (the Almajiris) into fighting for the Islamisation of Nigeria, which is totally against the teachings of Islam that is anchored on the promotion of peaceful co-existence. In their nefarious activities, they confiscated Hilux Jeeps belonging to international organisations working in these states on projects that benefit the people for their personal use. When they were done with the Hilux Jeeps, they shifted to confiscating Mass Transit buses. In the process, they fish out government officials among the passengers, kill them, and ask the rest to go. They have closed down schools and destroyed government buildings in these states where the emergency rule was declared. Because of their murderous acts, local government chairmen no longer reside in their LGs and run LG affairs for fear of being attacked. Government activities in areas other than the state capital of those states, particularly in Yobe and Borno states have been paralysed since these unscrupulous elements embarked on indiscriminate killings and bombings. More disturbing was the killing of Islamic scholars who were against their activities which run contrary to the teachings of Islam (these guys are not accepted in the north at all at all). They have invaded homes and forcefully dragged young boys, brain wash them, and inculcate their ideologies into their heads. For the girls, they force them into early marriage with just #2000 as the bride wealth. They force the people into harvesting their crops before time, and confiscate same for their personal. If they have interest in any building and the owner resists, they kill the owner and collect the structure by force as if they are the state. The situation later degenerated to killing innocent women and children. There was just no one who could stop them. According to a staff who works with one of the federal agencies in Maiduguri; any further delay on the part of the FG later than the week it declared the state of emergency, the insurgent group would have completely taken over Borno state. For those who denigrated Mr. Jonathan on using the military in regaining that part of Nigeria that was captured forcefully by an insurgent group, I have this question to ask them: what insult on a nation’s sovereignty could be worse than what Boko Haram members had done? Sovereignty is said to be absolute, indivisible, exclusive, universal, and permanent. If any aspect of it as enumerated happens to be tempered with through unconstitutional means like these terrorists did, does that not give Mr. Jonathan enough compelling reason to do whatever he could to exert his supremacy as the sovereign leader? Of course he did, but not until he was boxed to a tight corner where the thoughts of doing the needful (using the military) became a no-brainer. When on 14th May President Jonathan got cracking by walking the road less traveled by most Presidents as he declared the State of Emergency in those states where the insurgent group was at its bestial in conformity with extant law as enshrined in section 305, sub-section 3(c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the decision was greeted with fulsome praise across the country. But more resounding praises came from the peace loving Muslims and Christians of the North who venerated him for giving them a sense of hope after living under the murderous attacks of Boko Haram for years as though that had come to stay. In fact, while he was reading the declaration speech, some of us saw the anger of an American President who was about to give the U.S. army instruction to destroy a terrorist hideout in Iraq because of the sense of commitment he exhibited. The speech was reminiscent of Murtala’s powerful speech in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, titled, “African Has Come of Age” which was in defiance of the Western and Eastern powers meddlesomeness in the affairs of Africa during the cold war. By this action, it is not out of place to say Mr. Jonathan who has been sleeping all the while has woken up to his responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief. Contrary to the views held by those who decided to play politics with a sensitive issue as security in order to score cheap political points (NEF, Tinubu, Buhari and others), Mr. Jonathan has been vindicated from the bold step he took. Boko Haram’s core leadership has been debilitated. Its fierce fighters who dared the military have been decimated; others are on the run, while some have given in due to hunger. One of the biggest camps of the insurgents in Borno state where more than 200 Hilux Jeeps and countless Mass Transit buses that were confiscated and kept in a forest inside Sambisa game reserve has been destroyed and the insurgents are now at large, and uncoordinated. Since this operation started, the activities of the fifth columnists have been uncovered, those involved in recruiting innocent young boys for Boko Haram have been arrested, and arms that were clandestinely brought into Nigeria for the purpose of terrorist strikes have also been intercepted in Kano and other places. After all these efforts by the FG to put an end to the senseless killings of innocent people by the insurgents which has been widely applauded, it is exasperating to see the Hogwash that has been coming out from the media in their report of the military operation which is replete with lies. Some correspondents out of reportorial curiosity turn to heat up the polity as they accuse the military of human rights abuses; the FG has inflicted untoward hardship on the people, because the emergency rule which came along with the curfew has denied the people means to their livelihood and all manner of gibberish. Honestly this is at variance with the reality on ground. For those of us living close to this area, we have not seen anything of such. The people are happy with the measure taken by the FG, they have commended the military for conducting themselves in a professional manner, and for now they are not complaining. The only complain they laid was for the military to conduct a proper check on any vehicle bringing in food in order to avoid the influx of arms in the name of food items. This was confirmed last week when the FG took some local and international media correspondents in an Air-force jet on a first hand coverage of the situation on ground in the states where the emergency rule was declared. These journalists met with the people and conferred with them concerning their take on the emergency rule and the outcome so far. Their response was not only encouraging, it also countered the widely publicised reports of hunger, abuse of human rights and the subversion of constitutional democracy as appropriated in different quarters. Both the media as the Forth Estate of the realm, and others who promote this mendacious report are not helping our fragile democracy, especially as it concerns the lives of the citizenry. Before I finally disengage, let me state that I am not holding brief for Mr. President, because doing that will amount to rendering Doctor Doyin Okupe and Abati jobless. In fact I am not his fan at all, I never voted for him in the last presidential election, and will never do if the opportunity presents itself again, because I do not fancy his style of governance, policies, and his weakness on foreign policy matters nauseates me. But for once, he has endeared me to himself and he deserves to be extoled on the proclamation of state of emergency and executing same in line with constitutional provision(s). As for Gen. Buhari, he earns my admiration for his track records, his austere lifestyle, and the consummate statesman he has become. In fact these are the reasons why I vigorously campaigned for him with my friends in the University of Ibadan in the 2011 presidential election against Jonathan. And I will still do same if he comes up against a candidate I consider weak. But for him to forge alliance with the Tinubus’ and others disgruntled politicians to politicise security issues in a country they all aspire to govern is highly demeaning to say the least.For Tinubu, I think the amala politics he is used to playing in the south-west is deceiving him. He needs to come up north and see things for himself. May be his opinion might be properly shaped. But if he chooses to continue with those dissenting voices who prefer to denigrating Jonathan on this issue by coming out with guns blazing rather than view issues through the lens of objectivity, they should remember that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan still controls the atomic bombs. By Ihembe Ayankaa Martin Dept. of Political Science, University of Ibadan. 08023688848s
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000
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