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Stronger than the Maxim Gun Law, Human Rights and British Colonial Hegemony in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Bonny Ibhawoh
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Abstract

This article examines the tensions and contradictions in the use of law as an instrument of coercion to consolidate British control in Nigeria and the legitimising rhetoric of human rights and social justice employed within the context of the operation of the law. The article explores the effects of laws introduced mainly to foster British colonial hegemony against the background of the aspiration to guarantee social justice and forge a ‘modern’ regime of rights and liberties for native subjects in the colony. It probes the circumstances that made the rhetoric of rights and liberty imperative for both the colonial regime that employed it to legitimise empire and the African elites who appropriated it to strengthen their demands for representation and self-rule. The aim is not so much to show how the colonial state fell short of its own liberal agenda as to examine the appeal ofthat agenda and the conditions that made it so central to the colonial project.

Résumé

Cet article examine les tensions et les contradictions du recours à la loi en tant qu'instrument de coercition pour consolider le pouvoir britannique au Nigeria, ainsi que le langage légitimant des droits de l'homme et de la justice sociale employé dans le contexte de la mise en vigueur de la loi. L'article explore les effets des lois introduites principalement pour entretenir l'hégémonie coloniale britannique sur fond d'aspiration à garantir la justice sociale et à forger un régime “moderne” de droits et de libertés pour les sujets autochtones de la colonie. Il étudie les circonstances qui ont rendu impératif le langage des droits et des libertés à la fois pour le régime colonial qui s'en est servi pour légitimer l'empire et pour les élites africaines qui se l'ont approprié pour renforcer leurs revendications en matière de représentation et d'autonomie. Le but n'est pas tant de montrer comment l'Etat colonial a failli dans son programme libéral que d'examiner l'intérêt de ce programme et les conditions qui l'ont rendu si essentiel au projet colonial.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2002 , pp. 55 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2002

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