Democracy Or Tyranny: The State And Authority -By Nkom Blessed Chat

The nature of the state by Njoku is devoid of the use of excessive brute force and coercion, but concerned with securing the good of members living within her nooks and crannies. Having established the fact that the state is governed by her leaders under the direct control of laid down laws, it is good to note that the state can only achieve her aim of securing the good of people if there is an establishment of law or stands as a legal community.

Approaching the present situation of our country Nigeria where the said but not practiced form of government is democracy,  and the ideal use of power is not applied which makes one to take some moments to reflect on whether Nigeria practices a partial form of democracy and applying in some aspects the Machiavellian system of ruling called the Tyrannical system which Machiavelli painstakingly proposed that the Prince who is the ruler should use any means possible to get what he wants even though it means  him killing people so long as the aim of the prince will finally be achieved, the means isn’t the problem. Little wonder he has the aphorism, ‘the end justifies the means’. But then an analytic mind should be tempted to assert that Nigeria has been ignorantly influenced by the political thought pattern of Machiavelli because the use of power by Nigerian Government is to a larger extend nothing far-fetched from Machiavelli’s thought. We see today the presence of the oppression of human right of speech in that a citizen cannot express himself freely on the probing issues related to our leaders because of the fear of the unforeseen and unplanned circumstances that might befall him.

Okay, come to think of Abacha as the head of state who sent a lot of people to jail for stating their opinion regarding the then actual state of affairs about his government even though it was a military regime human right should have been considered. Is it the current president of Nigeria, His Excellency President Mohamadu Buhari who has on countless occasions violated the law of human right thereby denying fair hearing and used favourable laws to support his inhuman actions, one cannot avoid the incidents of the end SARS protest which occurred exactly a year ago where peaceful Nigerians were demanding for a better government, a better country, a better Nigeria for us today and for those yet to come. Many TV stations like Channels television, TVC news, and Arise television were shut down and fined just for erring the ideal and the truth, many prominent Nigerians were sent behind bars just for demanding justice. At this juncture, one cannot but ask the question can this country actually work? If the discussion is not about bomb blast, the papers are reporting cases of kidnapping, workers are planning to go on strike, the issues go on and on and yet the Government is silent, those elected are deaf, those placed in power have proven powerless and their jets don’t stop flying, their vacations cannot be cancelled, they keep smiling at the expense of our dilemma and yet a citizen will take a step further to his early grave or to jail whenever he voices out his opinions on these political irregularities.

Finally, to those who lost their lives last year and years ago because of their sincere quest for justice and a better government we say to you, the race you started  towards establishing an Ideal state of affairs cum a better government will definitely be completed someday, and May your souls continue to rest in peace. Amen.

NKOM BLESSED CHAT

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A STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT VERITAS UNIVERSITY ABUJA