TINUBU BRINGS PEACE TO ONDO

Ondo State cannot afford to be at war with itself, writes  Jimoh Ibrahim

The events in Ondo State will soon play out the thesis that liberalism is for absolute peace for the security of humanity. It is needless to engage in war for the peace of the state, and the realist that triggers war in Ondo State must be ready for collaboration and cooperation as President Tinubu posited; in any event, difficult times don’t last long. Ondo State cannot afford to be at war with itself. Regrettably, the realists at the centre of power accumulation in Ondo State are epiphenomena. We know their master, and it is in the democratic peace arena that we shall be engaging their power by democratic votes! They may get no votes in the reality of a democratic election measurable to the power they need now. Otherwise, they should challenge Aketi in a new election and become the Governor!! President Tinubu took power even when the maximum ruler and the head of the realists in Daura kept petrol and currency from 200 million people! President Tinubu was sure of himself as a liberal democrat.

Let us not forget that “politics is a power struggle.” Even in the most hospitable circumstances, the human condition is precarious because we are all unavoidably exposed. Yes, as Hobbes in ‘States of Nature,’ every human being is a potential threat because the struggle for survival in a world of limited resources is a ‘war of all against all.’ Hobbes thought that putting a government in place is an excellent way of guaranteeing security! In a world without a government to enforce order – a condition that Hobbes calls the state of nature – every human must be vigilant against threats to survival. A world without Government, he claims, forces humanity into a constant state of war because there is no way to trust in the excellent or peaceful intentions of others. We must always be on our guard lest we be attacked. This condition – in which no ruler or judge can resolve disputes and establish security – is anarchy. In a lawless world, Hobbes argues that our lives must revolve around survival, leaving no time for agriculture, the arts, or sciences conditions of anarchy; Hobbes says, ‘the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.

As I replied to Hobbes in my PhD War thesis, it is also the case that the Hobbesian phenomenon underscores man’s aggressiveness in the state of nature that requires the leviathan’s intervention. In the face of the Buhari government, Boko Haram created a condition in the Northeast that makes the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”—a celebration of the leviathan’s failure.

Aketi case is not that of abuse of power as we saw in Darfur, where Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with war crimes against humanity. There is a Government in Ondo State. Aketi is not the Government but the Head of that Government. We have never had issues with the apparatus of Government and Governance (apologies to the sociologists). Aketi will be back, and this time shall pass!

 Ibrahim PhD (Cantab), CFR, is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria