A FEW weeks ago, Prof. Ben. Nwabueze, constitutional lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria , former Minister of Education, statesman etc, called for a violent revolution in Nigeria . It is not  the first time he has done so.

He is also not the only eminent or “ordinary” Nigerian to do so. Earlier in the year, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Chief Areoye Oyebola did.

In fact, the Movement for Nigeria ’s Total Transformation (MNTT) of which Chief Oyebola (veteran journalist and one-time state commissioner) was reported ( in the Daily Sun, February 18, 2010) to have said that the movement was poised for a “hurricane revolution” in Nigeria .

Coming from some of the finest minds in the land, the call cannot be ignored. Neither can any casual observer of the Nigerian state ignore the frustration and almost hopelessness of the situation in which the country finds itself.

What is strange in these calls is that, in Africa, elders such as Prof. Nwabueze and Co. do not beat war drums. But we are in a very very unusual and precarious situation, it must be admitted.

Revolution: Generally, revolution is a fundamental, and quite often, violent change in the socio- political structure of the society. Discontent and irreconcilable contradictions breed revolution with the view to establishing a new economic, political and social order in the society. It is not new in human societies.

Europe was rocked by a series of revolutions in 1830. Political revolutions such as the American Revolution (1775-83), French (1789), Russian (1917), Cuban (1959) are usually violent. An exception to these was the English Revolution of 1688, which was peaceful.

Admittedly, not all revolutions are violent. There have been some economic revolutions such as the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America in the 18th and 19th centuries, Japan in post-World War II and China since 1979 till date, which has vaulted China into the enviable position of the second largest economy in the world, in a record time.

But revolution, violent or non-violent, is not a tea party, according to Mao Tse Tung. It is a very serious and sometimes, extremely expensive business. Nobody can fault Mao.

He is one of the best known revolutionaries in human history. He grew up in revolutionary circumstances.

He was born in 1896. Fourteen years after ( February 12, 1912), the boy Emperor of China was forced to abdicate following the republican revolution led by Yat-Sen in October 1908.

A provisional government was established in the place of imperial rule, thus ending 267 years of Machuu dynastic rule and 2000 years of imperial rule in China .

This epoch making revolution did not put an end to revolutionary tendencies in China.

At age 18 in 1914, Mao Tse Tung began to feed his mind on the philosophy of social change. As a budding revolutionary thinker, he founded a journal of discussion and put forward the dialectic view that the phase of oppression of the people would be followed by a phase of their transformation, that the humiliation and weakness of China would be followed by China’s emergence as a leading nation.

This turned out to be, perhaps, the most prophetic postulation of the 20th century. China suffered occupation and humiliation in the hands of Japan during World War II. Mao led a successful but bloody communist revolution in China in 1949.

That laid a foundation for the economic revolution led by one of his comrades-in-arms, Dieng Xiaoping who emerged leader of China in 1978 after being purged twice and twice rehabilitated as a result of several counter-revolutions. Millions lost their lives.

China gleefully announced to the world a few days ago, that it has overtaken her erstwhile oppressor ( Japan ) as the second largest economy in the world. This is not a fluke.

The world had expected this as China ’s economy has been projected to overtake USA’s as the largest economy in the world in 2025.

China’s meteoric economic growth has stunned the world. No nation, just none, has achieved such phenomenal growth in human history within such a short period. Yet, China remains a communist state.

Indeed, China’s feat shall continue to dumbfound and mesmerize the world, especially the apostles of free economy as the ONLY way to growth and development.

By Victor Osarenren, a commentator on national issues, writes from Benin City, Edo State.