CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND THE SURVIVAL OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM REHOBOAM’S LEADERSHIP

Abstract

The paper studies the moral significance of civil disobedience to leadership arrogance in Nigeria’s democratic setting. It was discovered that Nigerian leaders treat the citizens as non-relevant immediately after assuming political office. They promulgate policies which are anti-people. There is high level of social injustice, leadership hubris, and corruption in Nigeria. This has led to Nigeria winning the prize for the country with the poorest number of citizens in the world beginning from 2018. Anybody that tries to question the arrogance of the leader is severely dealt with. Unfortunately, due to fear, the citizens have resorted to solace and things have degenerated to a very bad state in Nigeria. This is similar to the situation of the Israelites in I Kings 12. Rehoboam took over his father as the leader of a united Israel. During the period of his inauguration, Jeroboam led a group of Israelites to Rehoboam to seek for social justice, fairness, egalitarianism and development. Rehoboam underestimated their civil powers. The people of Israel took it upon themselves not to be loyal to his leadership. The kingdom of Israel divided into two. It is on this light, that this article studies the situation of leadership hubris in Nigeria with its concomitant effects on the Nigerian society. It also lays emphasis on the significance of civil disobedience to the development of Nigeria democracy. A narratological analysis and the descriptive phenomenological method were used as the methodologies in this study.