By Hope O’Rukevbe EGHAGHA

War is evil. War is destructive. War leads to deaths of hundreds and even thousands. War rips relationships. Wars take an emotional toll on the psyche. War is associated with suffering. Senseless suffering. War leads to starvation. To the rise of the worst of humanity. Wars cost money. But wars also lead to peace too, sometimes. War establishes boundaries, sometimes. After victory. After defeat. After an agreement is reached from the point of view of weakness or strength.

After some wars are lost and won, one or both parties proclaim: never again! Never again shall we lift sword against ourselves. This the world did at the end of the First World War when the now defunct League of Nations was formed. They shall beat their swords into plough shares. But all too soon, war returns in a different way, under different circumstances. The Second World War came in 1939 and destroyed the illusion of peace till 1945. The people forget. They forget the evil of war. The hunger. The losses. The displacement. Children are killed. Women are not spared. All men are fair game to be slaughtered.

The Geneva Convention “are a set of four 1949 international treaties, with additional protocols, that form the core of international humanitarian law. They regulate the conduct of armed conflict and protect people not taking part in fighting—such as civilians, medics, and aid workers—and those who can no longer fight, including wounded soldiers and prisoners of war”.

Man recognized the evils of war. So, during peace time, mankind made rules about fighting, about war, how to fight battles, how to prosecute war. Don’t bomb civilians. Don’t bomb civilian targets. Women should be spared. Kids should be protected. But the sweetness of the savagery of war pulls savage soldiers into disregarding such conventions. Savagery during wars is archetypal. Desperation. Vanquish the enemy. Shooting a prisoner of war to death.

‘I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war’ expresses warrior King David’s frustrations with people who prefer conflict. There are some who thrive in chaos. These are merchants of death. The military industrial complex. Weapons manufacturers. Contractors whose bids run into billions of dollars. There is money to be made while mankind is dying. Powerful nations must test their weapons. The records show that America spends one billion naira every day to maintain the troops on Operation Epic Fury!

So, George Orwell created the slogan in the novel 1984. WAR IS PEACE! Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? Yes, it is. War is war. War is not peace. It can lead to the enthronement of peace. But sometimes, it simply postpones the evil day. Umuleri and Aguleri. Modakeke and Ife. South Korea and North Korea. South Sudan and Northern Sudan. Isreal and Lebanon. Isreal and the genocide in Gaza. These soft underbellies are set to explode at short notice.

It is ironic isn’t it that in the 21st century with all the accomplishments which mankind has made without fighting annihilating wars, some power drunk leaders are still threatening to wipe out whole nations in a senseless war. Gaza has been wiped out. Eyes are set on Lebanon. There was an attempt to annihilate Iran.

Nations constitutionally limit war declaration. One man should not lead the country into war. Institutions of state are required to sign on. The legislature. The peoples’ representatives must be convinced that the war is just and desirable. That there is no alternative. In the days of Imperial kings, the king’s word was law. He could without convincing the people commit the nation to war. Democracy limits, or should limit the capacity of tyrant rulers from declaring war.

The desperate ruler sidesteps the rule. Using technicalities, a ruler can declare war and brief the legislative house subsequently.  America and Isreal are the aggressors in the triangular ongoing war on Iran. Iran is a potential aggressor. This war is portrayed as a preventive one. Iran must not possess nuclear weapons.

It is true that war, death and destruction have been with man from earliest times. Man had to conquer the environment and those who controlled what they needed to survive. Natural resources embedded in the bowels of earth were a natural attraction. Conquered territories also showed the strength of the victor. Vassal states brought in tributes to the conquering king. In times of war, subjects from all peoples under the control of the master sided with and provided men to fight their master’s enemy.

It is when we encounter individual victims of war that we appreciate the destructive capacity of wars. A woman who lost six of her seven kids. A child who becomes an orphan after during and after the war. Presented as statistics, we do not appreciate the savagery of war.

The ongoing war between America, Isreal and Iran is an example of a war that we can fault. Negotiations were ongoing when President Trump launched an attack on Iran. It was said to be pre-emptive. Iran should not and cannot develop nuclear technology. Previous American governments threatened but never attacked Iran. Perhaps intelligence provided the C-in-Cs in the past predicted the current impasse. David’s legendary defeat of Goliath is an enduring metaphor for all humanity. Iran exports violence. Sponsors violence. Promotes a version of Islam that is peculiar to her. Nuclear weapons in the hands of the mullahs are a serious threat to the world.

Until the coming of Donald Trump, it was thought that negotiations were the way to go. Now the genie is out of the bottle. We may be able to determine how a war starts. Its end is in the hands of the owner of the universe. The stalemate in the war is unnerving and debilitating.

What kind of peace will there be in the Strait of Hormuz at the end of hostilities? Will Iran lay permanent claim to the Strait and collect tolls?

The threatened destruction of the civilization of any nation calls for caution. It is not the way to go. This is where the Pope steps in appropriately. His intervention carried the moral force of soft power. It must have rattled the White House. “As of May 2026”, writes Wikipedia, “Pope Leo XIV has strongly condemned the US-Israeli war in Iran, labeling it a “senseless and inhuman” conflict fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence”. The Pope has demanded a ceasefire, urged diplomatic dialogue over military action, and rejected claims that God blesses the conflict.

Nigeria is not war officially. But we operate wartime social conditions. The guerilla warfare which the insurgents have adopted strikes fear into the hearts of the citizenry. We therefore ought to formally declare war on the scoundrels who have declared war on us. Face to face. Bullet for bullet. Bomb for bomb. No forgiveness for the men who have unleashed such terror on innocent citizens. The war on Boko haram when fully declared and prosecuted will draw a permanent boundary between the hoodlums and the Nigerian state. The time to act decisively is now.