Obasanjo proposes law to ban ethnic militias

Nigeria's president Olusegun Obasanjo, has sent a bill to the federal legislature which, if passed, will give him powers to ban ethnic militias, officials at the National Assembly said on Thursday. The bill proposed as 'The Prohibition of Certain Associations Act 2002' was received at the National Assembly on Tuesday. "It is backed by a letter dated 25 March 2002 signed by the President," a senior official told IRIN. Under its provisions, the president would have the power to "dissolve and proscribe any persons, association of individuals or quasi-military groups which in his opinion is formed for the purposes of furthering the political, religious, ethnic, tribal, cultural or social interest of a group...contrary to the peace, order and good governance" of the country. The bill also proposes to prohibit any group from undertaking military training or displaying "physical force or coercion in order to promote any political objective or interest". Targets of the bill include organisations led by prominent politicians, which purport to defend the interests of ethnic groups or sections of the country. Obasanjo has accused three such groups of being catalysts of ethnic conflicts. They are Arewa Consultative Forum, Afenifere and Ohaneze, which respectively champion the interests of the biggest ethnic groupings, the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and Igbo. Nigeria has been wracked by ethnic and religious unrest since Obasanjo was elected in 1999, ending more than 15 years of military rule. Various ethno-religious militia groups have also emerged in different parts of the country, spearheading violent conflicts that have claimed at least 5,000 lives in the past three years.