Nigerian leaders are so violent and corrupt that their conduct “more resembles criminal activity than democratic governance”, according to a scathing report issued by Human Rights Watch on 9 October.
“Violence, corruption and impunity are not just problems that government has failed to tackle; they are systemic abuses that flow from the heart of the very same government institutions that should be working to combat them,” the report, titled Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria, said.
In some Nigerian states, powerful political “godfathers” control politicians, the report said. “In return, the `godfathers’ have captured government institutions to serve their own interests."
In Oyo State, one of several examples cited in the report, the ruling “People’s Democratic Party (PDP) godfather Lamidi Adedibu recruited gangs that sowed terror on the streets of the state capital Ibadan and other cities”.
Besides surveying what it calls “systemic violence openly fomented by politicians and other political elites”, the report shows “corruption that both fuels and rewards Nigeria’s violent brand of politics at the expense of the general populace”. The report also seeks to show “the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these abuses”.
Nigeria consistently scores amongst the world's most corrupt nations in the annual Corruption Perception Index of the organisation Transparency International.
According to author Chinua Achebe, winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, “Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage; and Nigeria will die if we continue to pretend that she is only slightly indisposed.”
Sham elections
The HRW report is highly critical of the country’s election process, and in particular the most recent polls which brought the new president Umaru Yar’Adua to power.
Many observers, including those representing the US and European Union, said the elections were among the worst they had ever witnessed anywhere in the world and they questioned the legitimacy of the results.
HRW said the election “proved to be another violent farce”. The report said: “In violent and brazenly rigged polls, government officials have denied millions of Nigerians any real voice in selecting their political leaders.”
“Federal institutions, including the Nigerian police, have themselves been at the heart of many of Nigeria’s worst abuses.”
Numerous examples are cited in the report of political figures openly recruiting and arming criminal gangs. In Gombe State politicians recruited violent cult gangs “who unleashed a wave of violence on local communities that included murder, rape, arson and other crimes”.
“In Rivers State, criminal gangs hired to rig Nigeria’s 2003 elections have since become a law unto themselves, spreading violence and insecurity throughout the restive Niger Delta.” Scores of civilians have been killed or injured during clashes since the 2007 elections.
Oil revenue wasted
At the same time, the report said corruption and mismanagement had led to the waste of record oil revenues that could have been used to tackle poverty and improve access to basic health and education services.
HRW said efforts to investigate and prosecute corrupt politicians “focused on enemies of the [former President Olusegun] Obasanjo administration, [thus] undermining if not destroying the credibility of those efforts altogether.”
Written by senior researcher in the Africa Division of HRW Chris Albin-Lackey and consultant Ben Rawlence, the report is based largely on missions they conducted to Anambra, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Katsina, Lagos, Oyo and Rivers states and the capital Abuja before, during and after the April 2007 elections.
The report called for an end to impunity. “One obvious and important place to start would be for the federal government to enact and aggressively implement the long delayed Freedom of Information Bill, which would make it possible for Nigerians to peel back the veils of secrecy that allow many government officials to conceal the evidence of their misdeeds by denying access to even the most basic government-held information.”
dh/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
