Impunity In A Season Of Democracy

By

Kòmbò Mason Braide, Ph.D.

kombomasonbraide@msn.com

Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Wednesday, 31 December 2003 @ 4:28 pm.

The Links To Prehistory:

“History will be kind to me: I have fulfilled my duty.

I leave you with these parting words: God willing, I will be back.”

– Pastor Charles Taylor, prior to leaving Liberia for exile in Nigeria (August 2003).

Perhaps no other word best defines the experiences of Nigerians, over the past quarter of a century, as precisely as “impunity”. Impunity is the complete lack of retribution, or justice, or even remorse for crimes committed. Indeed, the possibility of committing crimes (ranging from shop-lifting, armed robbery, rape, illegal detention, abduction, torture, or/and assassinations, to bribery, smuggling, extortion, money laundry, treasury looting, “illegal bunkering” and/or elections result manipulation), without having to face (much less suffer) any formal reprimand, or punishment, is an implicit acceptance of the warped morality of such crimes, and by extension, a sad commentary on the Nigerian condition. Forgiving and forgetting without remembering, are the very roots of impunity in Nigeria. Remembering too well, but not caring that what is forgotten may be repeated, allows for crimes committed without any punishment to be repeated with audacity.

Legend has it that, in the flurry of induced anarchy that followed the bloody mutiny and coup d’état of Friday, 29 July 1966, an ordinary private soldier had the brazen effrontery to tell a (whole) brigadier, straight to his face, that he (the bloody private) would only take orders from a captain, and not from the brigadier, who, incidentally, was the second highest ranking officer in the Nigerian armed forces then. Although he was literally shell-shocked, the brigadier quickly regained consciousness, jettisoned all doctrinaire assumptions of rigid military regimentation, unalloyed loyalty, and complete subordination to his superior authority, and simply fled to the assured safety of London, for obvious reasons of self-preservation, and, of course, as usual, “in the overriding interest of the peace, progress, unity, and indivisibility of Nigeria”. Luckily, the fugitive brigadier subsequently became Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and, as usual, everybody was happy thereafter … or so it seemed. Shortly afterwards, a civil war erupted in Nigeria.

Today, some 37 years after, the very architects, bastions, flag bearers, and ring leaders of the general disorder that was visited on Nigeria and Nigerians since Friday, 29 July 1966, are all self-acclaimed “national heroes”, and “eminent elder statesmen”, with everyone of them, incestuously “awarded” the highest national honours in Nigeria: i.e. GCFR; GCON; CFR; or CON. Ever since 1966, following the near-total militarization of the collective psyche of Nigerians, including the institutionalisation of a national culture of impunity by a succession of military dictators, the anti-federal structure of the Nigerian Federation has become progressively flagrant.

If we may ask: What is the use of a state Commissioner of Police that is not accountable to the so-called “Chief Security Officer” of the state (the Governor) that such a Commissioner of Police manages, yet he is accountable to the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja? By the way, who is the Inspector-General of Police of Switzerland, or of Canada, or of the USA, or of the UK?  (Answer: NONE.)

Why does our so-called civilian President openly condone brutal reprisals by trigger-happy soldiers of the Nigerian armed forces on helpless Nigerians, like the massacres in Odi, Zaki-Biam, and Warri? Why does our democratically anointed President repeatedly disregard the basic requirements of transparency, probity, and accountability in the implementation of the nation’s budget, with such callous indifference, year after year, since 1999, despite public outcry, and serious objections by the National Assembly?

What gives the typical okada rider the braveness to be reckless at minimum provocation? Why do the drivers of the rickety vehicles we call “bullion vans”, or even top government officials in their supposedly “monetised” official 4WDs and SUVs, with their (illegal) police escorts, routinely race dangerously through maddening urban traffic jams, sounding the very sirens that their President repeatedly warns them not to blast?

The answer to all of the above questions is: IMPUNITY. Simple.

Globalising Impunity:

Worldwide, until recently, former dictators tended to be arrogant, intransigent, unrepentant, and lived a life of unbelievable luxury in retirement, totally unperturbed by the fear of trial, and are completely oblivious of the likelihood of formal retribution. However, in recent years, the impunity of former (civilian and/or military) dictators has been watered down considerably, and many of them are finding themselves either in court, or in prison, frequently.

For decades after the Second World War, dictators, who manoeuvred their way safely out of office, seemed generally sophisticated in evading trial for crimes committed under their rule. For example:

·        Field Marshal Idi Amin of Uganda had a lavish life in exile, living in Saudi Arabia for decades, after presiding over the death of over 250,000 Ugandans. In fact, Idi Amin lived in comfortable retirement in a seaside resort in Saudi Arabia, until his death in August 2003.

·        Alberto Fujimori, two times President of Peru between 1990 and 2000, was charged with human rights violations and the support of private death squads. He is yet to be brought to justice. Meanwhile, he lives quite comfortably in exile in Japan.

·        General Efrain Rios Montt, the former military dictator of Guatemala between 1982 and 1983, backed by the Reagan administration and the CIA, was eased out of power after only 17 months by his mentors. Although General Montt’s rule was one of the bloodiest in Guatemala’s recent history, he has remained a political force to be reckoned with in Guatemala, finishing third in the presidential elections held there recently.

·        Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia led the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. He was “democratically elected” as the “civilian” president of Ethiopia, 10 years later. He presided over a civil war, bloody executions, and human rights atrocities for close to 15 years.

As his regime collapsed in 1991, he invoked the common dictator’s tactic, and “stepped aside”. He negotiated protection for himself, and a safe exile in Zimbabwe in a private ranch, in exchange for leaving power so as to end the war in Ethiopia, just like Charles Taylor of Liberia did recently.

Nevertheless, today, the trend is changing fast, the world over. Confronting former dictators with their sordid past, and bringing them to justice, is the new wave sweeping across the planet. Examples abound:

·        Hissène Habré, the former dictator of Chad (next door to Nigeria) between 1982 and 1990, was comfortably “exiled” until 2001, when the government of Senegal decided to arrest him for possible extradition to face trial in Belgium, and face justice. Supported by the United States of America as an ally against Colonel Moammar Ghadhafi of Libya, Hissène Habrè took power with covert CIA support.

·        Jean Kambanda, the former Prime Minister of Rwanda who led an orgy of genocide in his country in 1994, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a UN tribunal in 1998.

·        General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator for 17 years, was detained in the UK in 1999 at the request of a Spanish judge.

·        In 2002, the former military dictator of Argentina, General Leopoldo Galtieri, was charged with gross human rights violations. He died under house arrest in January 2003.

·        Baptist Pastor Charles Taylor, Liberia’s immediate past tyrant, accused of masterminding cross-border terrorism and diamond smuggling in the ECOWAS sub-region, reluctantly gave up power in August 2003, and is now living happily in exile in Calabar, Nigeria.

Charles Taylor “stepped aside” as rebels closed in on his regime. A UN tribunal in Sierra Leone has ordered his arrest. However, for reasons best appreciated by him alone, Chief (General) Obasanjo, the chief host of Pastor Charles Taylor in exile, has refused to formally hand him over to the INTERPOL, as requested.

·        Jean-Claude Duvalier (alias “Baby Doc”), former Life President of Haiti, has been living in France since he “stepped aside” and fled his country in 1986, although his affluent lifestyle has collapsed since he ran out of looted money while in “self-exile”.

·        For 35 years, General Alfredo Stroessner ruled Paraguay under violent repression. Now 91 years old, General Alfredo Stroessner has been living in Brazil since his overthrow in 1989. Recently, the government of Paraguay obtained an international warrant for his arrest.

·        General Manuel Noriega, former military dictator of Panama, abducted by US marines in 1989, convicted by a Miami court on racketeering and drug trafficking charges, and currently serving a 40-year jail sentence in a federal prison in the United States of America, will be free in 2007, hopefully, when he will be 70 years old.

·        General Wojciech Jaruzelski of Poland was forced out of office in 1990 by the Solidarity movement. Now 80 years old, he lives in Warsaw, where, for years, he has been battling with official investigations into his past recklessness, including one in which he is accused of ordering soldiers to shoot Polish demonstrators to death in 1970.

·        Slobodan Milosevic, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Socialist Republic of Serbia from 1989 to 2000, came into power in a sweeping wave of Serbian nationalism. Today, Slobodan Milosevic is on trial at The Hague for war crimes.

Revisiting Our Nightmares:

Anybody who has any iota of concern for human rights, justice, and democratic integrity in Nigeria should have been overjoyed by the abrupt termination of the “musical chair of a merry-go-round” of 29 cumulative years of absolutely visionless military dictatorships in the country, and, in fact, expect a fair trial, preferably by a special tribunal, of all the key actors, for all those horrible years of national degradation that they inflicted on over 100 million Nigerians. At best, all culprits could be granted general amnesty subsequently.

There is no doubt that impunity is one of the gravest problems with Nigeria, and one that needs to be urgently addressed. Indictments of atrocities committed during those 29 cumulative years of shear terror would include, among several others, not only the sporadic episodes of ethnic cleansing in 1966, 1967 and beyond, but also, rather crucially, the massacre of innocent civilians, particularly at Asaba, and several other crimes committed against humanity, on both sides of the conflict, during the First Nigerian Civil War (1966~1970). How many Nigerians died? How many were taken from their families, only to face brutal death later? Perhaps, if we multiply the numbers by all the military regimes that have infested the country since Saturday, 15 January 1966, the figure could run into tens, or even hundreds of thousands of hapless Nigerian souls. Invariably, the guilty are free, enjoying life, right here in Nigeria, where they can do it again, with impunity.

Today, Aso Rock Villa and its allies, unanimously hold the presumptuous and simplistic notion that, whatever may be the sins of Nigeria’s former military dictators, at least they offered Nigeria, the ECOWAS sub-region, and indeed Africa, a better hope for “stability”, “unity”, and “territorial integrity”, far more than what Nigerians suffered from their repression, but with General Sanni Abacha (GCFR) conveniently being the only exception to the rule, for obvious reasons of political correctness, and a national culture of extreme sycophancy. With their usual display of moral superiority, the Aso Rock mob of simulation experts conveniently overlook the damage inflicted on the Nigerian psyche by over a quarter of a century of reckless military dictatorships, specifically those of Generals Gowon, Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida, and Abubakar, incluing the 82-day joke called the ING, chaired by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

Such ready resort to wilful and/or selective amnesia reflects a deadly trap that is deeply embedded in the prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism in Nigeria: a trap sometimes called the “Doctrine of Change of Course”, so very frequently invoked by the White House every couple of years. In essence, the “doctrine” accepts the fact that, indeed, in the past, various Nigerian military dictators did some really horrible things because of “inadvertence”, “naïveté”, “innocence” or by the “expediency of pursuing the overriding national interest”. They simplistically and farcically pontificate that, since all of those “bad old days” now are over, especially with the death of General Sanni Abacha, (thanks to poisoned apples, Indian whores, and Divine intervention!), Nigerians should not waste any further brandy-drinking time on the boring stale story, but instead, join hands and “move Nigeria forward”. Although that doctrine is patently fraudulent and patronising, it does have its benefits: It protects Nigerians from the trauma and hazard of understanding what is really happening before their very own eyes: i.e. full-blown predatory autocracy of the democratic kind.

It may be recalled that, at first, the raison d’être of Chief (General) Obasanjo’s administration was to save Nigeria from the grievous damage inflicted by various tyrants who, incidentally, were themselves key members of his earlier dictatorship, over a quarter of a century ago. Today, nobody believes that lie anymore; not even Chief (General) Obasanjo’s speech writers. The new reason now is that Nigerians badly need to establish a workable democracy, and, in fact, have the sacred duty to democratise or sustain democracy in the ECOWAS sub-region, possibly the whole of Africa, if need be, by force of arms!

Sometimes, the mindless repetition of this “democracy-building” posture attains the dimensions of schizoid euphoria. For example, various Aso Rock commentators, including hangers-on, and official praise-singers, have described the organisation of the 8^th All Africa Games, and the CHOGM, held in Abuja recently, as clear testimonies of the bountiful dividends of their on-going game of nurturing a rather meaningless variant of democracy in Nigeria: a funny kind of democracy that is financed, sustained, executed, and controlled, almost exclusively, by ex-dictators.

Maybe it helps to shed some light on Chief (General) Olu Obasanjo’s mindset, given his strong support for the Zimbabwean elections rigger, Robert Mugabe, and the Liberian trans-national terrorist, Baptist Pastor Charles Taylor, two of the 20^th century’s worst examples of impudent African despotism. (Perhaps all this is totally irrelevant, because of the convenient “Doctrine of Change of Course” in international politics).

Oh yes! Chief (General) Aremu Obasanjo’s heart bleeds profusely for all the victims of General Sanni Abacha’s oppression, (particularly himself). Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! However, if today, the records show the same trends, then it is just that same “boring old stuff” that Nigerians should forget, so that Nigeria can “move forward” for the sake of “national unity” and our strange “nascent democracy”. Oh yes!

Kòmbò Mason Braide (PhD)

Wednesday, 31 December 2003 @ 4:28 pm.