THE QUEST FOR POLITICAL POWER THROUGH VIOLENCE
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Political class continue to arm the youths, employ them to commit heinous crimes, shed blood at every critical pint of life especially during election period; water the streets with blood of the youths themselves, innocent by-stands passersby. Politicians themselves are assassinated in broad day and in cold; bodies, souls and destines are wantonly destroyed in the Manichean quest for political power even the conferences held to pontificate on the negative of political violence wee unfruitful due to lack of tangible deliberations and implementation to harness the menace. The political systems of Nigeria are caught in a spider web of violence and death.
Also, in definition of Marx Weber’s idea of a state C.W Mills succinctly defined politics as a struggle for power and the ultimate form of power is violence.[1] This closeness between power and violence seems to be in consonance the earlier ideology and postulations of the Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung who believed that power grows from the emanation of barrel of gun.[2] The necessary consideration given to the relationship, these differences between power ad violence was thrown into light when the existential philosopher J. P Sartre whilst writing the preface to Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth glorified violence, believing that it is only violence that pays.[3] The name which Nigeria accrued due to her growth in different diverges of economy is a paradox. The catalogues of mismanagement, which led to this paradox, constitute as it were, the afflictions under which Nigeria is going through. Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria is menaced with much problems ranging from political, economic, cultural, social and otherwise. The superstructure is in fact in dilemma .This sometimes makes wonder the authenticity and the real autonomy of the country some even led to the conclusion that we are not independent.[4] The incessant wars against our fellow country men and women in the quest for political appointments through violence can only undermine our collective development as a people. With the ideologies of different philosophers aforementioned earlier and some individuals whose interest and specialty on political violence would be of valued help in analyzing the notion of violence and its relationship to political power will generate an enormous questions; what is the necessity of violence in the existence and maintenance of political power or can there be any political power without violence?.
The aforementioned questions are very prevalent in this our modern world with the contemporary penchant of world wars and revolutions in which violence is ultimately is the rising common denominator[5].With the advancement in technology man’s inhumanity to fellow man through violence by production of weapons of mass destruction has persistently been in outstanding pedigree has rendered man powerless and technological modernization which should serve as a helper to man has become his own instrument of destruction. However, violence has gathered an outstanding impetus when it comes to politics and politicking. Therefore, the quest for political power in this contemporary age is now full of violent actions thereby sending down morality to oblivion and enchanting the glories of violence to its apex level through the acceptance of Machiavellian principle of the end justifies the means.
Taken cognizance of Nigeria situation with facts born out of experience and genuinely vindicated by history that the quest for political power through violence is very much prevalent in Nigeria. Violence has persistently being attuned into the Nigeria system of politics in the garb of thuggery, riots, ethnic crisis, assassination, kidnapping, defranchizing people their electioneering rights which will eventually leads to untimely death of innocent people. It is our view that when political violence is used in conditions in which no other form of protest is permissible, and then it would wrong be to call it terrorism. Miller argues that violence may be permissible in dictatorships and other repressive regimes when it used to defend human rights, provoke liberal reforms, and achieve other desirable objective[6].A journey down to Nigeria’s political activities indicates that politics which is supposed the natural activities of man taking cognizance of Aristotelian definition as a political animal. Nigeria idea of politics is a game of do or die affair and what can be known as survival of the fittest. I should think that the aim of political power in every government as Arendt asserts is to enable men to live together, to promote happiness or to realize a classless society[7]. This meaning is no longer obtainable nowadays instead people have understood political power as the best avenue to make money hence resorting to all forms of violence in order to acquire it.
In this write-up, I am going to philosophically expose this quest for political power through violence especially in our country Nigeria toeing the foot step of Hannah Arendt to prove that power and violence are incompatible and that violence can destroy power but not create it[8]. Most Nigerian politicians see violence both as an offensive weapon and as a component of personal security as a necessary part of political campaign; they believed that they must maintain some capacity to unleash violence as a measure of self-defense.
[1] Mills, C.W.L’ elite du pouvoir,( Paris, Maspero 1969), p. 171
[2] Hannah, Arendt, On Violence, A Harvest Book, (Harcourt: London, 1970), p.11
[3] Fanon, F, The Wretched of The Earth, (London: Groom helm, 1983), p.19
[4] Nwachukwu.C. Article in the Torch Magazine. Edition 2002-2003.Pg5
[5] Ibid Pg 3
[6] J. Hoffman & P.Graham: Introduction to Political Theory (Cambridge: UK polity Press, 1993) P. 45
[7] Hannah Arendt, ibid., p.52
[8] Ibid., p. 56
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