Malachy Uzendu
25 May 2002
opinion
THE much-awaited report of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC) will be handed over to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday. No doubt, the Oputa panel's report is eagerly being awaited by Nigerians not because the report is capable of addressing all aspects of human rights abuses in the country, but Nigerians want to have a pedestal upon which they can gauge what to do and what to expect, especially as the nation approaches the real transition, which is from civil to another civil rule.
The choice for May 28, as gathered from insiders, is instructive. One is that President Olusegun Obasanjo, having received the 120-paged "executive summary" presented to him by the commission at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on May 21, intended to insert aspects of the recommendation in his May 29, Democracy Day broadcast to the nation. As a corollary to that, the Democracy Day, which commemorates the day General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime handed over to President Obasanjo, is so dear to the President that he prefers to make important national statements on that day.
Given the fact that President Obasanjo himself has accepted to publicly tender an apology to aggrieved groups as recommended by the Oputa panel, it would be easy to appreciate why such an important national statement will be made on a day like that. Sources told Saturday Champion that not only will Obasanjo, who played active role in the 30-month Nigeria/Biafra war, for which Ohanaeze Ndigbo forwarded, what was described by the HRVIC as the most important petition, the much-desired apology by Ndigbo for the genocide and other deprivations will be addressed on that day.
Justice Oputa, while giving an insight into the nature of the report, hinted that much of the compensation need not be financial. "Government can embark on development projects on areas that complain about marginalisation," he stated. And the cry of marginalisation and obvious neglect of the entire South-East by successive military and civilian regimes, is an indication that government is prepared to take concrete steps to address their complaints.
As stated recently by Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeifa, political adviser to President Obasanjo, "government solutions to the problems created by the on-shore/off shore oil revenue dichotomy, which was a problem planted by the government against the Biafra during and after the civil war." Dr. Ezeife, who, being an insider in the Obasanjo regime did not speak from the position of ignorance.
Also, the issue of rebuilding Odi community in Bayelsa State, which was destroyed by the military on the orders of the President Obasanjo administration is another matter, which recommendation in the Oputa panel report, is likely to bring about sources told our reporter that matters similar to that and in particular the rebuilding of Zangon/Kataff, the citing of strategic federal project like the rehabilitation of the Oji River Power State in Enugu State,
knocked off and abandoned after the war; the actual implementation of the policies which will make aircraft on international routes take-off and land in Enugu and Magaret Ekpo Airport in Calabar are all contained in the Oputa panel report. Justice Oputa had remarked at the closing ceremony of the panel's public hearings that "we want to reconcile all those who feel alienated by past political events, heal the wounds inflicted on our people and restore harmony in our country. We want the injured and the seemingly injured to be reconciled with their oppressors or seeming oppressors. That is the way to move forward and during the public hearings, the commission decided to take the message of hope and reconciliation to the people."
It was on record that people like General Ishaya Bamaiyi, former Chief of Army Staff, reconciled and embraced Col. Ibrahim Sabo of the Directorate of Military Intelligence; Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former late Head of State, General Sani Abacha's Chief Security Officer, reconciled with a lot of his enemies including Mr. Chime Nzeribe, Col. Sabo, President Obasanjo, Prof. Odekunle, Major Bilyaminu Mohammed, among others.
For larger communities like the Igbo, Hausa/Fulani Tiv, Ogoni, Yoruba, Zangon/Kataff, etc. whatever misgivings they had were addressed on in the Oputa panel's report and this is part of what President Obasanjo will talk about on May 29. Apart from these issues, certain public institutions like the military (security), the police and judiciary including the prisons, which previous leaders and other privileged persons abused in the past, were recommended for radical reforms.
As at the moment, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission and the National Assembly have been put on notice to carry out necessary constitutional reforms aimed at bringing to book any officer who subsequently deployed such offices of apart to personal advantage and to deprive a third party of his rights.
At the panel's public hearings, people complained of how the privileged utilized the police, arrested their assumed enemies and killed them. One particular case involving Mr. Samuel Okongwu, who alleged that Hajia Laila Dogonyaro used the then Kaduna State Police Commissioner to arrest and kill his brother in 1996, was a matter which rained tears down from the audience.
Mr. Okongwu had claimed that the police, who had arrested his senior on false allegation that his gang robbed Hajiya Dogonyaro, were chained in both hands and legs and killed by the police who turned around to claim that the victims attacked the police and in self-defence, they were killed.
The Oputa Panel look into such extra-judicial murder and then prison reform so as to bring life into rison conditions. During the panel's hearings, they visited Kirikiri Prisons and saw some dehumanising cells, including the DMI cells, where human rights were thoroughly abused. The report addressed this and similar matters and recommended stiff punishment on whoever that would use such extreme measures on the other again.
Oputa had warned that opening old wounds is a necessary means towards healing the wound. "It is a fact that effective therapy demands the opening of a wound, the probing of that wound, before applying a salve. There is also need to break the silence, the isolation, the fear and the falsehood that shrouded past arrests. Victims have a thirst to know what really happened. There is also need to establish historical clarity and to see our history interpreted in a way which names the deeds that were done and the reasons why they were done and those who were responsible," Oputa stated.
It is expected that the truck load of items comprising the main report, the petitions, the exhibits, the video and audio recordings and the verbation transcriptions will clearly prove that Justice Oputa is still the legal luminary of note and that age has not done much to his intellect. However, the fear is whether or not the leadership can muster the courage to implement the recommendations or whether the report will join many others and cool off in government shelves. Have we really learnt from history?
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