"Elections in Nigeria remain transitory because of the pervasive violence that drives competitive politics in the country and violence seems to represent the ultimate source of acquiring power' - Derric Maw.
In what is known as Hobbessian state of nature, what ruled was self preservation. There was a total absence of social order and social progress was an abberation. There was nothing like moral values that can be applied within the context of the larger society. The explication of this period was best captured by John Rawl as "Outlaw-State' where violence was more of a rule than exception. A survival of the fittest and the mightiest.
As people progressed to a modern world, they moved to a level of social development, a social system underguirded by the cooperation of the common goal of members of a society through balancing of conflict of interest among individuals and the state. It provides the necessary condition for the attachment of a happy life which Aristotle referred to as the highest good "the sumum bonum"
It is therefore implausible to think that anyone who is lucky to be a product of a well ordered modern society would ever think of regressing into the state of nature when life was hellish and brutish. But where have we found ourselves again in Oyo state after having heaved a sigh of relief that we have overcome the 'locust years"? With the coming into power of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo state appeared to have sloughed off the burden of violence and social disorder, which used to be the only order in the subversive regimes of the previous administration. We approached the turnabout with a liberal turn of mind. To the people Oyo State, violence was dead and interred with it's bones. Was it properly buried? We never thought it would rebounce like a proverbial Phoenix until recent events called our attention to the legs of the corpse, we thought was buried now sprouting out in the open.
In the midst of adversity, the worst misfortune for a being is to remember that he has once been happy. This captured the feelings of the peace loving people of Igbo Ora yesterday as the sad memory of the one - day, one - trouble of the previous administration in Oyo state was reenacted. People hardly believed that a colourful political rally could turned out to cast a pall of distress in their land. One can imagine how the residents would tremble hearing the sporadic gunshots from the hired agents of evils who instead of adding fun to their thrills came as a kill joy to blight their day.
The event that started on a friendly note was soon to be shattered by the hoodlums that operated in the open without pretension of wearing a hood. If they are a kill joy, they must be a dare devil, the inveterate haters of social peace and harmony.
Their unmasked faces exposed their identities as having been a willing tool before now to a set of ignoble class of political class typified by Karl Max as "turning political power to an organised power of oppression". These are the people to whom political immorality is more of a norm than an exception.
The worst scenario was the presence of Governor Ajimobi and the governorship candidate of APC at the rally. Both men are strong advocates of politics without bitterness. They wear the serenity that pervaded Ajimobi's reign as an eppaullete on their shoulder. Hardly could they imagine some people are hell-bent on robbing them of that shine before the next election and undercut the self determination of the Koseleri governor to make peace and progress a permanent feature in the state. Therefore, for some inscrutable reasons but clearly political vendetta, the hoodlums struck again. And the effect was unseemly fatal.
The rogue elements obviously acting their script well, allowed the APC governorship candidate, Oloye Bayo Adelabu to finish his speech and reaffirmed the commitment of the present administration to social development and common good. Unbeknown to him, the devil's advocate were lurking around to bare their fangs of terror. They made no bone about their devilish intent to attack him. They rushed towards his side and only by sheer providence the security men straggled him away from the crowd and wished him inside the awaiting car for safety. It must be the scariest moment for the young candidate who by mere optics of his gentle frame can't touch violence with a long pole.
Perhaps out of angst that their mission was unaccomplished, they opened fire on anything at sight to cow the residence. They made no mistakes about who their targets were and desperately searching for whoever carried any emblem of APC. They aimed, they maimed and turned the peaceful town to a theatre of war. By their act the Savage beasts have shown the world that the extreme violence of Rawls "outlaw state" was noble.
Violence can never settle anything right. Recognition of the value of humanity is conterminous with appreciation of individual dignity. This is because it is only in a state of social order that an individual can realize his goals and for the society to flourish. A moral that is evidently lost on the hired thugs and their shameless agents. Never again must Oyo state rolled back into a state of anomie. Oyo state people must vote against violence and take the pace setter state to the progressive next level that will guarantee abundant life and prosperity for all.
On 21st of February, 2007, the first Nigerian moral leaders forum was held for peaceful Elections. The overreaching objective of the conference was to sensitise Nigerians towards having a peaceful and violent free Elections in Nigeria in 2007. We all went to the conference with a red band with the clear message "shun electoral message" If in the wake of 2019 Elections, we are still bothered about and witnessing politically motivated violence in Oyo state, the question as usual is "Have we learnt any lesson"?
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