Flood of demands from rights groups

Various human rights heralded the advent of a new civilian administration with a series of demands. Constitutional Rights Projects (CRP) called for the abrogation of all military and special tribunals established by the military including the miscellaneous offences tribunal, robbery tribunal and failed bank tribunal. In a special report released on Thursday and titled "Military Tribunals and Due Process in Nigeria", CRP called for the transfer of the functions of such tribunals to the country's civil courts. CRP also called for increased budgetary allocation to the judiciary to enable the regular court system to carry out a programme of reform and general improvement. At least two international rights groups have also highlighted abuses in Nigeria in the past few days. Human Rights Watch released a report titled "Crackdown in the Delta" in which it draws attention to the crisis among Nigeria's oil communities where, it says, serious violations have continued. [The report is available on the Human Rights Watch website at ] The other group, Article 19, expressed concern in a report it published on Thursday about "the continuing lack of safeguards for human rights in the country". It, too, referred to the "explosive situation in the Niger Delta region, where local communities continue to struggle for recognition of their basic rights and to have their say in the face of official harassment and censorship. "The crisis in the Delta Region is a microcosm of the continuing struggle of Nigerians to make their voices heard," Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, said. "If the new civilian government fails to hear such voices, peaceful democratic development could be under serious threat. "ARTICLE 19 will be urging President Obasanjo to show the will required to set Nigeria on course for a better future." In the report,"Censorship and Democratic Transition in Nigeria", ARTICLE 19 says recent abuses of power by the authorities, including politically-motivated arrests of journalists and trade union activists, and awards of lucrative oil contracts to military officers, illustrate how far there is to go before there is honest, just and democratic governance in Nigeria. [The report is available on the ARTICLE 19 website at ]