AMAMIHE Journal of Applied Philosophy

The legitimacy of the state and the moral basis of political obligation remain pressing concerns in African political thought. In postcolonial Nigeria, colonial-era structures often lack organic legitimacy, raising fundamental questions about the moral authority of the state to command obedience. Robert Paul Wolff’s philosophical anarchism, which argues that no state marked by coercion, corruption, or arbitrary rule can satisfy the conditions of legitimate authority, offers a critical lens for examining this challenge. While normative theories of obligation- social contract, consent-based, and utilitarian- have been widely discussed, their applicability to Nigeria is limited, and Wolff’s anarchist critique has rarely been systematically applied. Likewise, indigenous governance practices and communalist traditions have largely been treated descriptively, without rigorous philosophical evaluation. This study interrogates the moral grounds of political obligation in Nigeria, guided by three questions: How have classical theories of obligation been applied or undermined in Nigerian political practice? How does Wolff’s anarchism illuminate Nigeria’s socio-political realities? Can a morally defensible, context-sensitive model of obligation be reconstructed for Nigeria and Africa more broadly? Employing an analytical–philosophical approach, the research integrates normative theory with Nigeria’s political history, contemporary governance challenges, and indigenous practices such as communalism, consensus, and relational accountability. The study advances a hybrid framework of political obligation that upholds autonomy, strengthens participatory legitimacy, and grounds authority in morally sustainable principles across postcolonial Africa.

Open Full Text (PDF)