THE ROOT CAUSE OF VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA: THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS, A REFERENCE POINT

The world is a puzzle but the puzzle of all puzzles is man. Nothing that shows this nature of man more than his behaviour, which is full of contradictions. He loves and as well hates, builds and as well destroys, gathers and as well scatters, purifies and as well corrupts, refines and as well defiles, praises and as well condemns, etc, in his bid to make one thing or the other out of his wealthy-wretched existence. His whole existence is mostly informed by these contradictory actions of his, which have made him a big riddle. The focus of this work is on violence, one aspect of his behaviours, which exemplifies so much his enigmatic life. Man wherever he is, shows signs of violence either overtly or covertly in words or actions. He is either fighting or preparing to fight; either he is moody counting his loses of past fight or busy celebrating the dividends of his pyrrhic victory. To find him idle without being busy thinking about one ill-will, one complaint, one insult, one offence, one attack, one grudge or another against this or that person, this or that country, this or that idea, this or that opinion, etc, is like expecting a child hale and hearty who is not asleep to remain calm. That is not possible. Nigerians have often been roasted in the flame of violence. What is the root cause of this violence? What prices have Nigerians been paying for it? Is there anything that can be done to avert it completely or reduce the rate at which it occurs? These are main questions to be addressed in this paper