Newswatch (Lagos)
Tunde Asaju
6 November 2000
Lagos — From a sitting position, it is impossible to know that Lawrence Fabiyi, a lawyer and retired Navy Commander has suffered terrible injustice.
He is average in weight, wears a thick-framed spectacle, not bad for his age and betrays a few shades of grey hair on the head. But once you ask Fabiyi to stand up, you see the deformity that years of solitary confinement, torture and inhuman treatment can do to a man.
Fabiyi has lost the power to stand straight. His heart is failing him, and in spite of his thick glasses, he could hardly see. On October 24, he, and two of his former contemporaries appeared before the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission, HRVIC, headed by Chukwudifu Oputa, a retired Supreme Court Justice.
He was asking for the nation to hear his plight and act. It was the first time in 40 years that Nigeria would be making an attempt to come to terms with thirty-four years of injustice. Oputa was recalled from retirement in July this year to come and help Nigeria reconcile with its past.
Within July and October 23, the commission appeared to have fizzled out of existence. Not so, said the chairman, the commission received 10,000 cases from interested members of the public. Eight thousand of those numbers came from Ogoniland where environmental degradation and the quest for redress have resulted in the death of several people.
In addition, there were 94 cases of murder, 472 cases of breach of contract and other cases of wrongful dismissal mostly from the armed forces.
President Olusegun Obasanjo attaches a serious importance to the work of the commission. He was physically present at the inaugural hearing of the commission to watch the proceedings. He declined comments but his son, Olugbenga had filed a paper on his behalf. So did Murtala Yar'Adua, son of the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua. Moshood Abiola's siblings equally filed formal complaints. So did Ken Saro-Wiwa's siblings. Frank Kokori, former secretary-general of the National Union of Petroleum and National Gas Workers, NUPENG also had his day before the panel.
To stream line its work, the panel has grouped its sittings. Beginning from Abuja, the nation's capital where 43 cases would be heard, the panel would also hear 80 cases in Lagos, 25 in Port Harcourt, 24 in Kano and 30 in Enugu. Newswatch gathered that 80 percent of the cases of violations are linked with the regime of former General Sani Abacha.
In a cruel twist of irony, two of those who served that regime have also petitioned the tribunal. They are, Oladipo Diya, a lieutenant-general and once Abacha's number two man, and works and housing minister, Abdulkareem Adisa, a major-general.
Others are mostly Abacha's friends. They include Yomi Tokoya and Femi Odekunle. The latter is a criminologist and former aide of Diya. Cases of abuse of human rights dated back to the Abacha years involve the furious bomb blast at the Ilorin Township Stadium on May 31, 1995. Equally on the case list is the ill-fated crash of ADC Flight in which several people including renowned professor of economics, Claude Ake was killed, in November 1996.
Oputa's panel would also look into the downing of the C-130 military plane in the swamps of Ejigbo, a suburb of Lagos. Many top level military officers were killed in that "accident." This is the only celebrated case that would drag former military President, Ibrahim Babangida to the panel.
Abacha coup victims-Segun Oloruntoba, R.N. Emokpae, Edwin I. Jando, all colonels and Martins Azuka Igwe, Richard Obitu, D.K. Olowomoran and I. S. Umar, all lieutenant-colonels are also seeking redress. O.O. Akinyode; a major who was killed in that coup would be mentioned when his wife R. A. Akinyode testifies.
The commission set to work in a grand style last Monday when it opened sittings. Oputa told Newswatch that though it has been called a toothless bulldog, it had a mandate that is germane to any attempt at genuine reconciliation. Recalling the beginning of the nation's slide towards chaos, anarchy and disintegration, the chairman said the past represented a dream "deferred but not destroyed."
He said: "Every Nigerian prayed and hoped for a new dawn of freedom and democracy. By divine providence and intervention, the mighty military Leviathan suddenly collapsed. There was then light and hope at the end of the tunnel in Nigeria. It was no longer going to be business as usual. Wrongs will have to be righted and abuses redressed."
Oputa observed that when things go wrong in a society, truth is usually the first casualty and that the rediscovery of truth must be the ladder towards genuine reconciliation. He promised that the commission would not witch-hunt but find the ways and means towards genuine reconciliation.
He said: "Our assignment is to help the nation look at its past; to help the nation face that past truthfully and honestly; to help the nation learn the lessons that the past teaches. It is true that the acknowledgement of the past is part of the process of healing."
He warned that in demanding justice, victims must not insist on criminal or retributive justice since the concept of an eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind. Rather, he said, emphasis should be placed on admission of guilt, confession of guilt and forgiveness as justice seen in broad perspectives.
But if that was what he set out to achieve, the Oputa panel saw the first signs of disappointment at last Tuesday's hearing, when Fabiyi gave his pathetic tale of torture in Abacha's hellhole. One of those who allegedly tortured him during his trial was in court. He is Zakari Biu, a police officer whom he described as his "chief torturer." The other is Frank Omenka, a colonel.
As usual with court proceedings, Biu was asked if he was a Christian or Muslim. He affirmed his faith in Islam but would not swear on the Holy Qur'an. He claimed that he was not pure to touch the Holy book and chose to affirm instead. For that reason, the former police officer refused to answer to the charges of torture and the graphic details ably illustrated by Fabiyi.
Fabiyi's case was novel. He was not arrested for planning a coup but for taking some books from Bello-Fadile, a colonel and lawyer accused of planning a coup against Abacha. Bello-Fadile and one Ahmed, his counsel, sent some law books through Fabiyi to Bello-Fadile's sister. For accepting the books, he was brought before Patrick Aziza and Ishaya Bamaiyi who, after a short trial, sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Because he was not on the original list, his case went practically unmentioned in public until he petitioned the Oputa panel. This is because of the circumstances surrounding his arrest and trial after the investigation panel had finished its job.
U.S.A. Suleiman, a retired captain was excused from his duty post at the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, Kaduna to attend a security interview. For the next eleven months, he was not to wear his much-cherished uniform or go back to his teaching job at the military academy. He spent eleven months at the 78, Alexander Avenue Ikoyi, headquarters of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI, in a dark dungeon with no electricity or ventilation 24 hours daily.
He recalled: "Iron hooks are drilled into the walls for securing handcuffs and leg chains. While here, I was chained 24 hours in either sitting or standing position." Suleiman's offence, according to the charge sheet, read out to him was that he allegedly spoke of a plan to carry out a surprise attack against Abacha's government and that he had learnt from Orkar's coup, to prevent any hitch.
In actual fact, Suleiman was involved in military exercises in Kachia in the first week of November he was to have made the statement. The allegations against him were unsubstantiated and despite the fact that he had been in detention five months prior to the March '95 coup, he was roped in.
Suleiman alleged that one M.A. Sadiq, a cadet at the NDA, was the one who made the allegations against him. Sadiq, now a lieutenant attached to 81 Guards Battalion, Keffi, in Nassarawa State broke down and confessed he was used to truncate his superior's career in the army. Even though Sadiq was recommended for dismissal, he has kept his uniform to this day while a similar recommendation for the release of Suleiman was not implemented.
Not only that, Aziza tried him in absentia but recommended that he be retired from the army. The retired captain wants the commission to bring those responsible for his incarceration to book, vindicate him and restore his dignity by ordering them to apologise to him for unlawful detention and retirement.
Martins Azuka Igwe, a retired lieutenant-colonel was aroused from his sleep, barely a month after assuming duty at the II Field Regiment, Zaria. He was told he was needed for a security meeting to quell a riot in Zaria. When he showed up at the purported meeting, he was detained in handcuffs, pushed behind a truck and driven to Kaduna.
He spent three weeks in detention before being moved to Lagos, where he kept fate with his destiny at the Inter-centre inside the Ikoyi Cemetery where he slept on cold floor for seven months. Five officers including Biu, Omenka, Sam Turaki, a lieutenant-colonel and Apollo, a navy commodore interrogated him. Felix Mujakpero, a brigadier-general, ordered his torture to elicit information from him.
Aziza and Mujakpero tried him, and sentenced him to death by firing squad. His sentence was commuted to 25 years imprisonment four of which he spent in Jalingo prison in grim conditions. His property were seized among other violations he said "I cannot remember due to my present poor mental and unhealthy state," he told the panel in tears. He wants his job in the army back and promotion to the next rank, compensation for four years' incarceration and medical treatment abroad. He also wants his trial and judgment quashed and action taken against those who tortured and abused his person.
The first two days of hearing showed that the army is not the only bastion of injustice. The police did not fare better. David Jokotoye, a Kwaran was a driver who, apart from driving, found time to buy vehicles for those who needed them. He was also a member of the police-community relations committee. On one of his trips, he was halted by a police patrol team which looked at his new car and the over N100,000 he was carrying before shooting dead the driver.
They also shot Jokotoye in the leg and another friend of his in the stomach. When Jokotoye identified himself, his attackers apologised, promised to take him to the hospital and then moved as if they would. Halfway through, they brought out the victims, shot them dead at close range and buried them in an unmarked grave.
When the police began investigations and recovered the body, they warned the relatives of the deceased that they would die if they tried to expose the police.
John Jokotoye, brother of the deceased came with the complaint. He was shocked that the police commissioner who presided over the charade did not show up. Nuhu Ribadu, assistant commissioner of police who represented the force, promised to do all in his power to bring him at the resumed hearing November 1.
That was not all. Ogaga Ovrawah complained that Adejoh Abdul and Noah Omakanju, believed to be officers of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, killed his brother Ogbenero Zundu Ovrawah along Abuja-Kubwa Road.
The deceased's offence was that, as a road safety official, he had intervened in the case of an accident involving an Okada and a Peugeot in which the two, and one unidentified man were driving. When he identified himself, the duo pounced on him. He fell and was rushed to Kubwa General Hospital from where he was to be transferred to Garki, in Abuja. He died in the process.
As there was no cooling in the Garki mortuary, his corpse was embalmed. When a pathologist was called to perform the autopsy, he declined because of the hazardous chemicals used in the embalment procedure. The case went to court, but the police claimed they needed the autopsy to pursue it. When they completed their preliminary investigations, the office of the director of public prosecutions, DPP, closed the case for want of evidence.
The assailants were granted bail and when contacted NIA claimed they were not its employees. The commission ordered the police to re-open the case file and let the courts decide whether or not there was a case to answer.
These were just a few of the horrific details of abuse of human rights being heard by the panel. But Nigerians are sceptical. The sittings are devoid of the expected crowd. Newswatch gathered that this is due to the fact that most aggrieved persons and members of the public were disappointed that the commission has no penal sanctions.
Already, some of those who petitioned the commission were either absent or had changed address. For example, last Wednesday, Murtala Yar'Adua could not present his case because he had no knowledge of whether or not his petition would be called. Bailiffs claim his address, given as Apo could not be located. Mahmud Samba's case was struck out when he did not show up. He was protesting the killings in the Ilorin Township bomb blast. J. F. Akhidime's case could not be pursued because the police could not trace his alleged killers. He was chief librarian at the University of Abuja.
The commission has failed to publish the case list and some of those who petitioned had given up hope that their petitions would be worked on. This is partly due to the gap between the date that government pronounced the setting up of the commission and the actual period of starting its public hearing 17 months later. Though the chairman explained that there was no period of inertia, he would need more than that to restore the confidence of those whose rights have been violated.
This also probably accounts for the fact that some of those whose cases were listed did not show up at the time trial was to begin. The commission is undecided on whether to use publications as a means of service. For example, some of the complainants could not be served at their last known addresses because they had moved. Some had even changed jobs.
Also, it is widely believed that government starved the commission of the funds it needed to move forward when it would have wanted to do so. For example, Oputa complained that he and his members had to operate from their hotel rooms. Even now, they are being paired to an office and have no cars to move around. For the enormity of the task they are being given, they would need the maximum convenience that would enable them to complete their work on time.
The lack of penal sanction for the commission has also robbed it of some form of credibility. Nigerians believe in the power of sanctions. An observer who asked for anonymity told Newswatch that without the power of sanctions, Nigerians would see the commission as a toothless bulldog.
Others simply say that there is nothing for the penal to do that the Human Rights Commission, another organ, could not have done if given the chance. Oputa does not agree. He believes that his job differed by poles from that of the HRC.
Some point to the absence of a representative of the human rights community as a reason why they do not have hope in the commission. Said one: "Their absence cannot be explained. Though the members are men and women of proven integrity, the plight of Nigerians under dictatorship could not have come to the limelight but for the activities of the human rights groups. Government ought to ask them to nominate somebody. The same should have been done of professional groups and trade unions. Even youths ought to have a say."
But Oputa says that no one with an idea is excluded. Tunji Abayomi, a human rights lawyer and representative of the group, was removed in controversial circumstances. Oputa confessed that his removal followed newspaper report that Abayomi himself was a victim and would not be fair. But sources told Newswatch that the chairman was not comfortable with Abayomi's inclusion because of his usual uncompromising stance, his boldness and forthrightness. Abayomi was believed to have been instrumental to getting Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Moshood Abiola's families to lodge complaints before the commission.
Oputa's mandate differs a lot from conventional courts. It is a mere fact- finding body with no power to pass judgment, a fact some see as an impediment. It was literally copied from the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There is limitation in the statute of interpretation, as the Nigerian version has no definition of the key phrase "gross violation of human rights." In the South African version, the description is the "killing, abduction, torture or severe ill-treatment of any person or an attempt, conspiracy, incitement, instigation, command or procurement to commit an act."
Critics also say that the petitions did not cover the coup of January 1966, the pogrom that followed and that public hearings should be organised on these issues. But the commission seems to be contented with the historical outlay of these events. Though its mandate was extended beyond the original date, the panel did not call for fresh memos to cover the extension.
In spite of all these, other Nigerians believe that this is the first bold attempt by a wounded nation to come to grips with the details of its past. This group of Nigerians say that it is not the end but the motive, that of taking witnesses to a sort of physical purgatory to enable them look back at the way they did things and offer apology.
But last week, indications that the tribunal's mandate may be prolonged began to emerge. Because of the trial of some of the perpetrators of the crimes against the people in some courts, the duo of Ishaya Bamaiyi and Hamza Al Mustapha, invited to come and confront their accusers, wrote through their lawyers saying that because of their pending cases in the Lagos high court, they would not be able to make it. They asked for an adjournment to between November 7 and 9, a period the Abuja trials would have been concluded.
As far as social critic, Bala Usman, is concerned, government has already drawn a bad card when it banned all militant groups in the country. He favoured re-orientation, which comes with education. He also says that the worst form of violation comes from monopolists of the import and export trade who dictate the prices of their commodity unilaterally.
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