In classical political philosophy, the protection of life and property is assumed the sole justification of government. Thomas Hobbes, who first held this view, showed that before the formation of government men lived in a state of nature characterised by perpetual fear of losing their lives and limbs. To safeguard these, the individuals engaged in constant war against each other because homo homini lupus (man is wolf to man). Hobbes’ articulated consequence of the state of nature goes thus: “In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
The state and government emerged in the pristine time as an ingenious innovation by men to cure the ills of the state of nature. Thus, when men invented government, they did so in order to build civilisations and to advance their lives and live longer. To be able to do this, they even forgo the absolute freedom to do as they liked which includes to make war. They transferred the right to war on their behalf to a government which they formed by themselves. It is from this that governments derive their rights to punish trouble makers, meddle in people’s affairs and demand their obedience.
State or governments that are unable to guarantee the above are regarded as failure. They fail because they are unable to perform the foundational responsibility of governments. And when this happens, individuals unconsciously return to the state of nature which mankind have abandoned. In doing so they excavate their rights to war in order to preserve themselves and their properties. They do so because the covenant they had with the state or the government to protect them against attacks have been breached by the state. At this stage, every law made by the state becomes futile as the law of nature takes prominence.
It was this law of nature that Gen. Yakubu Danjuma invoked when during the convocation ceremony of Taraba State University on the 24th of April, 2018, he urged his people in Taraba to defend themselves. It is also the same law that the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) invoked when they recently called on all Christians to defend themselves against attacks.
These calls are symptomatic of loss of confidence on the government. They were made simply because the government and its apparatchik have not lived up to their responsibilities to preserve the individuals in their persons and in their properties. In their failing to do so, the individuals have taken up their natural duty to self-preservation in the face of which every other thing is secondary.
But there is a price to pay for this: death of civilisation and development. We have seen communities razed down by attackers in Benue, Zamfara, Taraba, Nassarawa, and even Plateau in the past. The destruction will become total when we begin to see retaliatory attacks. Let us assume that we survive the attacks and the counter attacks, the razing down of structures, businesses, homes, farms, livestock and so on means that surviving individuals have nothing left to enhance and sustain their lives. It also means that the precious time needed to engage in meaningful activities will be invested in planning defence and attack against the next man.
We will all become losers in this. Those unfortunate enough to die lose their lives. The living lose their loved ones and worst of all become what J. P. Clark regard as the casualties. The perpetrators lose their humanity. The government lose its legitimacy. And the state loses its authority.
We must arrest this descent into the state of nature with all the powers at our disposal both individually and collectively. Self-defence as being called in some quarters is an emotional response that is equally destructive. The only rational response left for us as citizens is to demand that individuals within the security circle do the jobs which we have assigned to them.
