Guns, Pens and Words: the Military, the Politicians and the Intelll Gentsia in the Process of Political Mobilisation

Abstract
The choice of a title as this one was not fortuitous; it was deliberate. Earlier I selected a very innocuous sounding title: "Political Mobilization and Development." My colleagues reminded me that this was an inaugural address and not a seminar paper and that my predecessors had selected such striking titles as, "All flesh is grass", "History and Society". So in this Great Ife tradition, I settled for "Guns, Pens and Words".... guns representing the military; pen, the intellectuals; and words, the politicians. Politicians, of course, these days have more than words, they have money. I do hope then that a title, starting with 'guns' is sufficiently pointed and striking.
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Keywords
Political mobilisation, People's will, Public discipline, Limits of coercion, African social processes, African social structures
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