The need for a politically organized society emanated from the dangers man posed to himself in a state of nature. The state of nature is the existence of people without an overseeing authority, a society without rules, politics, or government, where people are free to do what they please with no defined duties or obligations. For Thomas Hobbes, the state of nature is characterized by the war of every man against every man, a constant and violent condition of competition in which each individual has a natural right to everything, regardless of the interests of others. This state of nature often leads to the rule of the individual who often is the strongest of all people around him. It’s a system without rule of law, characterised by violence and anarchy, destruction of lives and property, without respect for human rights of mankind.
However, owing to man’s passion for peace, strong fear of death and the desire for things necessary for commodious living, it became necessary for men to enter into a mutual social contract among themselves whereby everybody agrees to transfer all his power and strength upon one man or an assembly of men on the condition that everybody else does the same. The authority thus constituted uses the combined power and strength of the citizens for the purpose of promoting the peace, safety and convenience of all. The authority imposes its will through the civil law. There could be no right or wrong, no justice or injustice apart from the command of the civil law. The 17th and 18th century philosophers postulated that the movement of man from the state of nature to a politically organised society was based on social contract.
The use of social contract theory to construct a natural rights doctrine was articulated most fully in the writing of John Locke to curb the menace of autocratic and tyrannical leaders. Locke wrote that certain rights self-evidently pertain to individuals in the state of nature. According to him, man entered into the social contract by which he surrendered to the sovereign not his rights, but only the power to preserve order and enforce the law of nature. The individual retained the natural rights to life, liberty and property for these were the natural and inalienable rights of man. The purpose of government is to protect these rights; it has the primary end of preserving the lives, liberties and possessions of members of society. So long as government fulfils this purpose, its law should be binding. When it ceases to protect or begins to encroach on these natural rights, laws lose their validity and the government may be overthrown.
In this way Locke championed the English Puritan revolution of 1688 to 1689. This revolution culminated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which gave impetus to a wave of revolutionary agitations that swept America and France. They successfully established a republic which was founded on the view that the authority of the government derived from the people, not the king, or any sovereign power. In other words, government rests on the consent of the people. The terms or provision of this early social, political arrangement, or contract between pre-society or pre-state individuals on the one hand, and proponents of the idea of government, or prospective public office holders on the other, has evolved and become known today as the constitution. Therefore, a constitution is a social and political contract between the people and government, stipulating the general will of the people and setting out the fundamental issues of government and life in such country.
The Nigerian Constitution, therefore, is a contract between the people and the government. The Constitution listed the fundamental human rights of Nigerians as captured in chapter four which the government must protect and preserve in exchange for the people enthroning the government in power for the peace, order and good governance of the country. This is summarised in section 14(2)(b) which indicated that the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government. Democracy grants the people the powers to alter, change, or abolish any government that becomes destructive of the inalienable rights of the people to life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness.
In Nigeria today, security of life is practically on a continuous reverse. In Plateau State, more than 150 people have been massacred in cold blood while the President is away on a purported official private trip abroad. The President did not cut the trip short to rush home to solve the massacre. The media aides of the President rather told the Plateau Governor that he is on his own to solve the problems. More than 300 people have been murdered in cold blood in Plateau since Tinubu came to power and he did not immediately visit Plateau State to commiserate with the victims of the tragedy whenever such tragedies occurred. The same Presidency who now wants to push the blame for the attacks to the Governor of Plateau forgot in the haste of their incompetence that Plateau State has no state police and the governor goes through the Inspector-General of Police to get security for his state and the Inspector-General of Police is an employee of the President who acts only on his instructions.
This experience is almost pushing Plateau State back to the state of nature where life is solitary, nasty, brutish, poor, and short, prompting the governor to ask his people to defend themselves. The farmers cannot farm and the crops they have sown in the fields are vandalised, stolen by bandits and terrorists with sophisticated weapons. Yet, without supplying the people of Plateau State with counter sophisticated weapons to defend themselves, the Federal Government is blaming Plateau State governor. This is a betrayal of the social contract where the people of Plateau State submitted to the authority of Tinubu in exchange for their security and welfare. The question is whether the people of Plateau State will be allowed to express their preference for a new order or validate their suffering under Tinubu come 2027 in a free and fair elections? Note that those who make peaceful change difficult, make violent change inevitable.
The story is not different in Benue State where terrorists are attacking, killing, and stealing the produce of farmers and citizens of the state. Governor Alia of Benue State called the marauders, imported foreign terrorists who do not speak any Nigerian language. They have destroyed many lives and property of Benue people prompting the governor to cry out that the Federal Government should up their game in protecting the lives and property of Benue people. Over six local governments in Benue as at today are under the brutal attacks of these terrorists. Again, this is a betrayal of the social contract between Benue citizens and the government of Tinubu where Tinubu is under a legal duty to protect the security and welfare of Benue people in exchange for their submission to his authority. Will Benue be allowed to freely choose their leaders in 2027? Time will tell. Fraudulent elections in 2027 will be a time bomb that will consume all election manipulators because it’s approaching the level of unmitigated disaster to beat a child and deny him the opportunity to cry.
The most egregious betrayal of the social contract was the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, which actually was a declaration of martial law, in which spurious and unsubstantiated allegation of security apprehension was pronounced in Rivers and President Tinubu relied on such proclamation to unconstitutionally remove the democratically elected representatives of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, Tinubu and Gov Fubara derived their powers and authority from the people of Nigeria, through the social contract, and its only the people, through their representatives, that have the power to remove any of them. Tinubu, in unilaterally and dictatorially removing a sitting governor and replacing the governor with a military man has simply betrayed the social contract because Tinubu didn’t seek the consent of Rivers State people before removing the governor they chose for themselves. It is preposterous that Tinubu is helpless with insecurity in Plateau and Benue but can pretend to act decisively in Rivers State where the situation is as peaceful as ice water. Till date no one has told us about any casualty in Rivers State that warranted the state of emergency. Indeed, the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers is what has brought the unending agitation from the people of Rivers State for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of their chosen governor.
The story is not different in Borno where Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are resurging for brutal attacks on the inhabitants. Governor Babagana Zulum lamented that resources meant to fight the insurgents are diverted to Northwest to fight against rising insecurity in the North-West. He pleaded for urgent assistance to stop the killings of his people
The same scenario is happening all over Nigeria and marks a national betrayal of the social contract, prompting Gen Theophilus Danjuma to urge people to defend themselves. The people are entitled to security and welfare from the government, but more importantly, they are entitled to be allowed to alter, change, or abolish peacefully any government that has become destructive of their fundamental human rights. Anything other than obeying this order of rule of law is an invitation to rule of force, anarchy, and eventual revolution with no one ever knowing how it will end.