Weekly Trust Friday, June 7, 2002
Buhari, Obasanjo and human rights
Wada Nas
Recently, Vice President Atiku Abubakar suggested that General Muhammadu
Buhari who recently joined the opposition APP should be made to appear
before the Human Rights Violation Commission apparently to answer charges
for human rights violation.
Although Mr Vice President was not specific, we could deduce that he was
referring to the imprisonment of two journalists of the Guardian, the
execution of two cocaine pushers after a lawful court judgement and the
arrest of alleged corrupt politicians.
For these reasons, Mr Atiku went on to say that Buhari was never a democrat
because he had no plan to hand over power to civilians.
As a senior officer of a government, which virtually all Nigerians agreed
that it was a complete failure, we can appreciate why he wants to catch on
any straw in order to revive the decayed image of the administration.
However, it is very important to take Mr. Vice President into the record of
history. If Buhari sanctioned the hanging of two cocaine pushers, General
Obasanjo sanctioned the hanging of about 30 alleged coup plotters, including
two innocent ones. It is also important to remind Vice President Atiku of
the killing of five ABU students and one University of lbadan student when
Obasanjo ordered the invasion of the campuses, in those days. Nor could we
forget what happened to Fela’s mother and the burning to ashes of the
musicians’ house, admittedly one of the greatest African musician ever.
Let the vice president be further reminded of the lekki concentration camp
created by Obasanjo’s administration where alleged criminals were taken to
and treated as slaves.
Not only was Obasanjo the first Nigerian leader to hang alleged coup
plotters, he was also the first Head of state to close down a media organ,
the New breed, for the alleged offence of a few. Which is better, to
imprison two offenders for their offences or to visit their sins on their
establishment by closing it down? Yes Buhari got two Guardian newspaper
journalists imprisoned, but Obasanjo closed down a whole organisation
thereby denying the whole staff their means of livelihood.
If Buhari detained alleged corrupt politicians, Obasanjo has visited murder
charges on one of the sons of a former Head of state on alleged corruption
when in fact the son was never the offender. To visit the alleged sins of a
father on his son is a crime in the way of Allah.
Buhari got two cocaine pushers hanged after a due process but in the case of
the Obasanjo-Atiku administration, thousands were killed in Odi and
Zaki-Biam on the orders of the Presidency and without even a minimal court
trial. The alleged offence of a few Tivs were visited on the whole Tiv
population including the parents of a former Chief of Army Staff. in the
same way, the offence of a few Ijaw youth was visited on the entire
population of Odi. It is left to Nigerians to judge between Buhari and
Obasanjo, is the worst human rights violator and who between them should
face the Human Rights Violations Commission.
If on account of this General Buhari is not a democrat, let Nigerians judge
between the two who is the greatest anti democrat personality.
One of the serious complaints against President Obasanjo is his failure to
pull off his military uniform as he operates the democracy project. No less
an institution than the Supreme Court made pronouncements of numerous
violations of the constitution. We know how he has been trying to muzzle the
National Assembly and the party system. We all also know how he has no
respect for the due process as he tried to smuggle a section into the
electoral law. All members of the National Assembly know how he has been
operating the budget act in the breach, respecting only those portions that
please him.
If any Nigerian is to accuse Buhari of human rights violation, no member of
the Obasanjo administration should do so.
Anyway we thank God that nobody has accused Buhari of corruption, and we
don’t need to be reminded of what Transparency International, Britain and
America said of the Obasanjo’ s regime in this regard. And we are waiting
for Mr Vice President to make any pronouncement in their regard.
If he doesn’t, we would ensure that we come out with a catalogue on the
issue. Finally, let me remind politicians that blackmail is not an effective
tool in electoral propaganda. When its sharp edges acts, the blackmailers
may emerge worse. In this regard, Mr Vice President should do well to
educate Nigerians on why the failed Obasanjo administration should return to
power for another four years of great suffering. The issue is not Buhari but
what the Obasanjo-Atiku denounced administration has achieved so far. If
they cannot tell the good people of Nigeria what they did, then they should
be better advised to be extra mindfu1 of what they say. If Nigerian politics
is issue-based, Vice President Atiku would have found solace in keeping to
himself rather than discussing Buhari as the issue. When a politician
discusses personalities as issues, it means he has lost his bearings.
Finally, Atiku as a young politician, who wants to aspire to the leadership
of this country, should be advised to scale down his criticisms of some
personalities, and the ACF in particular .I am making this advice for the
good of his own political future.
For long, he has been presenting himself as an enemy of a particular section
of this country and this is not good for his image as the Vice President of
the Federal Republic. “
When last Northerners were massacred in Lagos, what did the Obasanjo-Atiku
administration do? Not even a condolence visit was organized to sympathize
with the victims. Those who are part of the project of not seeing with the
plight of Odi, Zaki-Biam and the numerous killings of non-natives elsewhere,
need to be reminded of their future political horizon. They should be told
not to hide their failure in Buhari but their incapacity to deliver what
they have promise. I repeat that the challenge before such people is to tell
Nigerians what they have done to better their living condition in the past
three years. Failure is certainly a yardstick for measuring political
waterloo, and not General Buhari. However, if General Buhari is the issue,
we know those uncomfortable and why.
The issue of the day is the betterment of the lives of the Nigerian people.
Has the Obasanjo-Atiku regime delivered? I will come up with why Atiku
Abubakar could not be a running mate to any serious Presidential candidate
in Nigeria.
I wish to call on Mr. Vice President to respond to this question. This would
help his regime more than seeing Buhari as the issue and putting ACF in bad
light.