The North And Oputa Panel
By
The apathy and aversion to the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission that ended sitting in Kano is not without a reason. The Governor Kwankwaso's uncomplimentary remarks about the panel, the so-called pro-Abacha protesters and the massive withdrawal of petitions by petitioners themselves can all be summarized as a sabotage mission to scuttle our country's first time attempt at unearthing the dirt and cruelty of the past.
The adage that those without skeleton in their cupboard have nothing to fear, properly fits into the Kano episode. The attitude demonstrated in that ancient city is a calculated attempt by reactionary and desperate political forces in the north not only to incapacitate the Commission, but to render it redundant.
Governor Kwankwaso as someone that had not been part of the struggle for democracy, and as someone that had not paid any price for the enthronement of democracy, can be duly understood from his myopia. It is natural that those who collaborated with military regimes or benefited immensely from it are jittery and ashamed of themselves. They do not want to be exposed. Their simple strategy is to whip up ethnic, sectional and religious sentiments to cover their past. This informed the misleading campaign that the panel is a mere forum to persecute northerners or northern leaders.
Anti-democratic and sectional elements in the north have always cashed-in on the low literacy level of the region to manipulate the conscience of the people towards satisfying their parochial political interest. The attempt to sell and portray the likes of Buhari, Babangida and Abacha as leaders who ruled, cared and worked for the north can only be believed by an unconscious, misinformed or insane mind. The corruption and human rights atrocities particularly committed by the regimes of IBB and Abacha were neither done to favour the north nor with the consent of northerners. These tyrants overthrew governments and ran it to satisfy themselves, their family members and close political associates.
The stage-managed pro-Abacha protest and the adornment of street walls with Abacha posters in Kano is not an exercise that has any popular spread among the common people, in Kano or even in any part of the north. Abacha regime had not done anything positive for the north to warrant any sympathy for the present plight of his associates and comrade-in-crime. The suffering and hardship the ordinary people in Kano, Kaduna, Minna and elsewhere are confronted with, over the years, is enough to take the whole days and weeks of their lives. Working against or shunning the panel, does not in any way help the interest of the north. Those who think that boycotting the panel will save their face or by doing so, the region's political interest is protected are making a big mistake. If the panel finally winds up and Nigerians, particularly northerners, were not able to know, for posterity, the full account of the situation that warranted the execution of Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Maimalari and Co. by coupists in 1966, the wrath of the next generation will await those responsible for it. If Oputa panel closes its book, without full revelation on the circumstances behind the massacre of Islamic activists in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Zaria during the reign of IBB, Abacha and Co. it is unfortunate. If Oputa report finally comes out without a mention of what led to the deposition of Sultan Dasuki and his subsequent detention, and what led to the frame-up of Yar'Adua and his eventual murder by the Abacha rogue regime, it is equally unfortunate.
The repercussion of frustrating attempt to unveil the atrocities of the past, as some retrogressive forces in the north are doing, is that such cruel act could be repeated in the future. If what happened to Dasuki is left unattended to, the logic is that other persons could be the next victims.
Those who think Dikko should not drag Buhari to Oputa Panel for scandalizing his name, and "packaging" him in a crate because they are all northerners, are only giving room for the possible enactment of such heinous episode on other citizens. When Abacha framed and jailed Yar'Adua, he never reckoned that "they were all northerners", why should Yar'Adua family be pressured to withdraw petition based on this much used sectional, ethnic or religious sentiment?
Gen. Mamman Vatsa is a northerner. When he was framed and executed in 1986, how many of these latter day ethnicists of north's interest pleaded that his life be spared because he was a northerner? Vatsa's family have the right to seek for justice and must not be waved by any pressure out of sentiment.
When Abacha and his aides arrested and framed Col. Lawan Gwadabe, Abacha refused to consider the fact that 'we were all northerners and must not be seen embarrassing ourselves'. Gwadabe was rather stripped naked, hanged over the ceiling and thoroughly tortured. How many 'emirs and elders' spoke out against it? Ex-dictators now using sentiment to discredit the Oputa panel should be made to understand that they are only postponing their date of judgment. Everyone is free to defend Babangida or campaign for the release of Abacha's hatchet man. But it is out rightly irresponsible, inordinate and idiotic to raise the flag of the north in defense of the misdeeds of these military rulers while in office. The catalogue of human rights violations and all sorts of atrocities committed by military regimes in the past must not be consciously or mischievously heaped on ordinary Nigerians of northern extraction: former military rulers and their apologists are just trying to drag the region to share their record of cruelty.
The logic of comparing Dr. Fasehun and Mustapha's cases is most unreasonable. That Mohammed Abacha, Bamaiyi and others should be released from detention because Dr. Fasehun leads an organization that murdered northerners does not hold water in law and morality. Dr. Fasehun's case is before the court. He is till undergoing trial and can be jailed or hanged if found guilty. The families of those who are allegedly killed by Fasehun's men will prefer justice done to them by ensuring that the case is pursued to its logical conclusion. None of the families of those killed said Fasehun should be released for Abacha's men to go free. Likewise, the family of those whom Al-Mustapha allegedly killed also want justice. Different issues must not be confused as same.
The Abacha regime did not hold a referendum in the 19 northern states when it established the strike force, when it ordered the killing of Kudirat Abiola, when it proscribed newspaper houses, when it framed innocent persons in phantom coup, when it killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and his kinsmen, when it looted the treasury and dragged the reputation of the country in the mud before the international community. As such, the name of the north or its people must not be used to defend such actions that are clearly barbaric and devoid of the slightest of element of humanness.
However, the Oputa panel cannot be defended if after its final sitting, it is unable to treat the hatchet men of Babangida and those of Obasanjo when he served as a dictator from 1976 - 1979. All former military rulers must appear before the panel and answer for all they had done. The Oputa Panel must not allow itself to dance on the grave of Abacha alone.
Sani is the president, Civil Rights Congress