Understanding Political (In)stability in Nigeria: Colonial Force, Postcolonial Farce and Africa’s ‘Two Public’

Abstract

Peter Ekeh’s ‘Two Public’ – primordial and civic – is a novel invention to understanding the socio-political and economic life of African society. The two public espouses the existence of dual moralities resulting from colonialism while highlighting the divisive role of this colonial legacy in contemporary African politics and how it continues to undermine the possibility of unified praxis in postcolonies against the hydra-head manifestations of imperialism cum neocolonialism. This paper examines why the moralities of both publics differ? Why does the two public and its dual moralities matter in contemporary African politics? We evoke decolonial epistemic lens to explore the etiology of (Westphalian) state and how uncritical subscription to it constricts understanding of the character and functioning of postcolonial enclaves masquerading as states. The study utilises secondary data and concludes that uncritical quest for stability in postcolonial states is tautological as the state never was.

Keywords: Decoloniality, postcolonialism, (post)colonial state, political instability, ‘Two Public’.

DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/82-05

Publication date:July 31^st 2023