Human rights.
Human rights briefly put entail freedom of speech, association, beliefs, right to life, and lawful ownership to property among several others. These rights are adequately guaranteed in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution and indeed all-previous constitutional enactment since independence.
What has been the practice in Nigeria since the dawn of the democratic era? Without doubt, there have been some levels of respect for human rights such as freedom of speech and to some extent, free association, political and religious beliefs. There has been more openness in some of these areas. Indeed, in the case of religious beliefs, there is nothing any one could do about it. With the introduction of the Sharia, however, there have been attempts by government, as testified to by the pronouncement of some of its key officials, to undermine the efforts. Several ministers have made partisan remarks against the practice forgetting that the constitution of Nigeria guarantees citizens to practice their beliefs according to their religious teachings. Even the President himself went on air, after the Kaduna riots, to decree that the Islamic legal system must not be expanded in line with Islamic teaching. This was not only an attempt by government to deny Muslims the practice of their religion but also a reference that the Kaduna riots were caused by Muslims even as they were taken unawares when the thing exploded. However, when government saw the futility of its action, it changed tactics by getting some ministers to subtly denounce the Islamic legal system and by causing a division in the North along religious lines. It is clear that the concept of the Middle Belt is more religious than political.
In the area of free association, the pronouncement by some key officials that new political parties would not be registered speaks volume about the limitations of openness here. Going by media reports, the ruling PDP, of course in collaboration with government, is said to be putting pressure on its members n the National Assembly not to make provision for the registration of political parties contrary to the provision of the constitution. It is an attempt to unlawfully undermine the constitution in order to ensure the survival of the PDP whose performance at the national level most Nigerians have rated low.
What happened to former Vice President Aikhomu when he was denied the right to travel abroad is also a pointer to lack of freedom of movement as with the practice during the military era. For the avoidance of doubt, what happened to Aikhomu also happened to General Jerry Useni and it has been happening to all members of the Abacha family. When you deny a citizen his right to free movement you can not reasonably speak of respect for human rights of which freedom of movement is an important aspect.
To worsen matters, the SSS has been silently dealing with some of those who want General Babangida to contest the presidency come 2003. On two occasions one Mallam Badeggi was arrested and detained and warned that the alleged IBB presidential bid was a serious security issue. He was warned to stop the campaign on grounds that INEC was yet to clear the ground for such. This was at a time when several groups were up and down campaigning for a second term for General Obasanjo.
While we must admit that there has been relative free press, it should also be stated that a few have been silently invited and I can bear witness. We all recall what happened to the Editor- in – Chief of This Day. And since its appearance, editors of the Insider magazine have been loudly complaining that they are on the watch list of the SSS. Femi Falana recently revealed that a list of the members of the human rights group are also still on the watch list. General Bamaiyi’s lawyer, Barrister Okoye, told the world that he traveled out ten times since the regime arrested his client and on each occasion he was treated as a suspect because he is Bamaiyi’s lawyer.
And this brings us to the trial of the General along with six others. While people like Gani Adams and Fredrick Faseun have been given bail or released the Bamaiyi’s have not. Consider that Bamaiyi in particular is being detained for alleged involvement in a plot to commit murder and also consider that Faseun and Adams were charged for involvement in genocide. Those who allegedly committed mass murder are better treated than those who allegedly attempted to kill one or two individuals.
Coming to the case of Mohammed Abacha, a foreign judge was brought and tried him in prison under Swiss laws. This has never happened in our history yet the government went ahead to commit such a serious crime against the sovereignty of Nigeria.
Extra judicial murders by security agencies are more rampant than hitherto. Alleged criminals are silently been killed. Nor can we ignore the rampant cases of the killing of motorist especially commercial drivers by the Police at roadblocks for refusal of such drivers to part with 20 Naira. We heard how a Colonel in Zaria tortured an innocent person to death on allegation that the person stole his ring. It turned out that he did not do it. Extra judicial killing has been too rampant such that many don’t feel very safe with our security agencies. Worse still our prisons are over flowing with suspects constituting about 70% of the total prison population. Even as most of our current leaders experienced the hardship of prison life little have they been doing to improve standards in the prison. If you want to appreciate the level of human rights in Nigeria, visit the prisons and you would be horrified with the conditions therein. Our prisons remain the evidence of lack of true respect for human rights in Nigeria.
And what human rights could we speak of when violence has been massively been on the increase in the last two years. Ilaje-Ilaje, Modakeke-Ife, the Niger Delta, Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Amuleri-Aguleri, Taraba/Benue, and several others have been dehumanising spots of cruelty. It has become impossible for government to detect things until matters get out of hand. For three days they allowed genocide in Lagos until thousands were killed. Nigeria has become a huge centre of communal violence since the administration came to power. For sure not less than ten thousand citizens or more must have lost their lives in these crises.
Security
Armed robbery has been worse. Even Abuja has been caught by it, which was never the case before. Nigerians are prisoners not in their country but in their own homes and no where is safe. The inability of the police and other security agencies to deal with the situation is what gave rise to OPC, MOSSOP, Bakkasi Boys and such other killer squad which some states have unfortunately legalized legalization of criminality.
Poverty and Economy
As insecurity has been on the increase so also poverty. Indeed, poverty and poor economic conditions are what are encouraging these violence and insecurity in the country. Worse, in spite of the fact that oil prices have been favouring the administration, the economy has never been worse. From 82 Naira to the dollar in 1998 it is now 140 Naira to the dollar. We have never had a worse economic situation. Still in spite of huge earnings not much has been achieved at the federal level. Of course the states have a lot to show for their efforts but not the federal government. The testimony for this is that in all the reports filed in by the 70 journalists who are on tour of the country, they have only been reporting the achievements of states with little on federal achievements. The media tour was brought about when Nigerians scored the administration low at the federal level not at state level. The tour has more than confirmed the popular view of the people which is why I consider the tour a huge waste allegedly involving 300 million Naira though some put it at 1.7 billion Naira. Whatever the amount, it is a waste because Nigerians never complained about the performance of the states but the federal government.
While the Nigerian Airways has not more than three planes, the administration appropriated 5 billion Naira for the purchase of a presidential aircraft in addition to the 7 within its fleet. And in spite of the so-called war against corruption we are witnesses to how attempts were made to bribe our representatives for the purpose of removing their speaker. Corruption is far from dying in Nigeria. Indeed, in the first year of the administration, it topped the list of the most corrupt countries in the world, coming the second must corrupt country the following year. Some ministers were allegedly removed for corruption and nothing happened then.
Social Mobilisation
A structure for social mobilisation has been put in place but its operation has been made difficult because the policy of divide-and-rule and favouritism has been put in place. Take a case where 5 out of the 6 AIG’s in-charge of Police Zonal Commands are all from one tribe. Most officers removed are replaced with people of this particular tribe. Such discrimination has been so glaring that it is being done without conscience. In most states where the Commissioner of Police is not of their tribe, his immediate deputy is from that tribe. This tactics applied to ministries when the administration came in. In all of them, where a member of this tribe was not the minister, either his deputy or permanent secretary was of the same tribe. And the security agencies are not left out in the discriminatory practices. Such things make social mobilisation difficult if not impossible. And when we add poverty and insecurity, which are devastating the people, little could be reasonably achieved in this area. Social mobilisation could only prosper when the people are taken along. This has not been the case.
Conclusion
On the whole, we have not moved reasonably away from the past. In fact in some areas such as poverty, insecurity, the economy, we are worse off. The truth remains that Nigerians were better off yesterday than they are today in several aspects of their national life. We could only talk of freedom of speech, but it is the constitution that has guaranteed it and not the acts of administration. If we recall what happened to Okadigbo and Na’Abba what freedom of opinion are we actually taking about. What practices of democracy are we talking about? Very little, only that we must live on hope that things may be better tomorrow. As for today yesterday was better as the Naira has demonstrated.