POLITICAL GENERALS SHOULD GO TO OPUTA PANEL:

NO NEGOTIATION

by

Professor Omo Omoruyi

Research Fellow

African Studies Center,

Boston University

I am surprised that there are talks of what the Americans call ‘plea bargain’ on behalf the political generals. Their lawyers are engaged in protracted negotiations with the Presidency on the one hand and with the Oputa Commission through the Press on the other over what the political generals could testify to. Why can they not testify to anything wrong in their administration if it involved human rights violations?

The lawyers are also concerned about the personal security and their dignity. One does not know what these lawyers are talking about when one of their clients, General Babangida called all military regimes ‘fraud’?

Their lawyers are arguing that their clients, the former military dictators should not be arraigned as common thieves before a tribunal. But what are they? Do these lawyers know that they are accused of so many crimes against humanity and not of stealing from the public coffer? This is not saying that stealing from the public coffer is not a serious crime. It is; but human rights violations are crimes against humanity. If these lawyers do not know, they should or ought to know that the crimes against humanity are more serious than the petty crimes of looting.

The political generals are worried that their appearance could be used as a fishing expedition to go into all conceivable issues about their misrule of Nigeria. Why not? Justice Oputa should not tie the hands of Nigerians in such a way as to make a mockery of the Truth Commission. Justice Oputa also would want to make history.

What these lawyers should appreciate is that the Oputa Commission is concerned with the search for truth in cases involving human rights violations. The right to truth in human rights violations should be approached differently from other cases where lawyers argue over fine points of the law. Let these political generals go before the Oputa Commission and testify to the truth about their past rule or misrule; they could walk up to the Commission and apologize for their numerous acts of omission, commission and indiscretion in the past. The Oputa Commission is not sending them to jail. Why are they afraid?

Some even fly the ‘ethnic card’ that it was unduly focused on the northerners. (Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar) And so what? Are these lawyers aware of the Nigerian saying that if you chop alone you die alone. Are these people really serious with the argument? Did they know that the northerners monopolized the rule of Nigeria since 1960?

Some even said that after all it was an intra-Fulani affair between Buhari and Dikko, as if ‘Fulani on Fulani’ human rights violations should be condoned. They remind one of the ‘black on black’ injustice that was condoned by the African-American leaders when Abacha’s atrocities were raised in the US. I found the same argument in the response of my northern brothers that the case of South Africa was different from that of Nigeria.

I hope they read my analogy between the South Africa under the Apartheid regime and the military rule under the geo-ethno-military-clique that misruled Nigeria from 1966 to 1999.

What is seriously flawed in this argument is that since it a Fulani or a northern affair, they should be left alone. They are arguing that a northerner against the south could be considered but not an intra-north infraction. This argument is not new from those in the past that argue that a white on black injustice is different from black on black injustice. They want to extend this to Fulani on Fulani or a northerner on a northerner injustice as permissible infractions. This is downright poppycock!

There is even a terribly ignorant person (Modibo Hamantukur) in the Gamji.com who wrote from Manchester in the United Kingdom that after all who cares; IBB and Dele Giwa are both from the Middle-Belt. Dele Giwa from Middle-Belt! Haba! Maybe Dele Giwa was a Middle Belt by association being a colleague of Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed of the Middle Belt. I am glad Dr. Steve Nwabuzor had since called Modibo to order in many factual errors he made on behalf of the political generals in his response to my plea that the political generals should go forward to clear their names. My plea still remains. These political generals should go to the Oputa Commission with their versions of the truth.

AFTER ZADOK, WHAT NIGERIANS EXPECT FROM GENERAL ABUBAKAR

Now that the country had heard of how Chief Abiola died from the horses mouth (Theodore Zadok) and not from other political generals, let me rephrase and raise some further pertinent questions about the last days of the revered Chief as guest of General Abubakar.

It is a matter of public knowledge that General Abubakar and the Service Chiefs were opposed to any thought of having Chief Abiola as part of the solution to the political impasse as long as the ‘ghost’ of Abacha was very much around Abuja during the thirty-day state mourning period.

WHAT NIGERIANS EXPECT FROM GENERAL ABUBAKAR NOW

Nigerians would want to know through the Oputa Commission whether it was coincidental that Chief Abiola should die at the end of this period?

Nigerians would want to know what was the hurry in rushing him at a particular time to the Aguda House to be before the US delegations?

Nigerians would want to know what was going on in the minds of General Abubakar at the end of the Abacha thirty-day mourning period?

Nigerians would want to know whether he was looking for a sacrificial lamb to be witnessed by the US officials, as if he died naturally.

Chief Abiola’s death was natural so the US quickly on the advice of the Nigerian military junta told the world. We had since heard that it was not. Was it the work of a marabout or maybe Allah? This is what our Islamic brothers and friends would want their fellow Nigerians to believe.

It was also a matter of public knowledge that General Abubakar and his Service Chiefs were opposed to the idea of investigating the past human rights violations. They counseled their installed successor, President Obasanjo against it in their handing over notes. We now know why they were opposed to the setting up of a panel to investigate the past human rights violations.

Thank you President Obasanjo for daring them; Nigerians should support you for taking this step to cope with the past.

If they like President Obasanjo who they claim they put in office they should not treat him with disrespect.

If they believe in Nigeria, I strongly urge Generals Babangida and Abubakar to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the Oputa Commission to make history.

They should defy all the local lawyers who are raising all legal hurdles as if the issue of human rights violation is within the domestic jurisdiction of Nigeria.

GENERAL BABANGIDA, DO NOT TOY WITH THE HAGUE

These same lawyers under General Babangida regime drafted all the anti-human rights and anti-Abiola decrees in the past, which ousted the jurisdiction of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. They are at it again misleading General Babangida that legal technicalities through the courts in Nigeria can stop the implementation of an idea whose time has come.

My counsel to General Babangida is simple. Please do not toy with The Hague. It was your denial of the democratic rights of the Nigerian people that led to the catalogue of human rights violations since 1993.

These lawyers would not be able to come to your aid, General Babangida, if you should be picked up later and sent to The Hague for crime against humanity. If these lawyers would not read what happened to the Chilean Dictator, Augusto Pinochet, General Babangida and Abubakar should be warned and advised to go forward and bare their minds on the constraints on them at the time they were Head of the junta. Human rights cases are not subject to domestic jurisdiction or the municipal laws of Nigeria. They cannot be killed by time. The Chilean case should teach these lawyers that Pinochet’s crimes were committed in the 70s and in Chile and Pinochet was picked up after 25 years in far away place as the United Kingdom when he went there for a medical attention in his ripe age of near 80! Prosecution of crimes against humanity anywhere is an idea whose time has come. President Obasanjo is doing them a favor when he created an opportunity for them to be dealt with by a Truth Commission at home. The alternative would be outside the control of President Obasanjo.

This should be an opportunity for General Babangida to discuss the issues in the annulment; he should name the 1001 people, military and civilian involved in the episode. He should be free to confess as to the roles played by each. I am prepared to refresh your memory, if you call on me. I have my notes, which are still under lock and key and I have my memory. You were too preoccupied with safety then to be able to recall all that happened.

ARRANT NONSENSE TO SAY ABIOLA’S DEATH WAS ALLAH’S WISH

As for General Babangida, I wonder how many Nigerians read the excuse given by him in n all the highly orchestrated news magazine interviews that no one could hold back anyone from dying if it was the wish of Allah. Well, Brigadier General Ibrahim Sabo, who was told by Ishaya Bamaiye that Chief Abiola should not be allowed to live after the death of their patron, General Sabo also, used General Babangida’s expression in order to excuse themselves from the death of Chief Abiola. Our Muslim Nigerians attributed their belief in Allah to wrath mischief on fellow Nigerians and loot the country. President Obasanjo is playing the Muslim game of attributing all acts from the ruler as Allah ordained, even if the act is unjust and corrupt. This is arrant nonsense.

Yes, IBB would uncharitably say that Allah said you could not hold back a dying person. This is common sense. General Babangida should credit Nigerians with some modicum of common sense and the benefit of independent knowledge of what happened to his friend, Chief Abiola. Nigerians don’t want to be preached to by fellow Nigerians less religious as they are. General Babangida should therefore stop preaching to Nigerians what Allah wishes for him and for others. One can understand why the revered religious leaders like the former Sultan of Sokoto invoke the name of Allah in what ever they do. Certainly not from the professional coup plotters, usurpers, and annullists! Nigerians are asking if Allah told the professional coup makers when and how to stage a coup and who to install as the Head of State.

Speaking specifically, Nigerians are asking some pertinent questions about all the death notices IBB and his successors served on Chief MKO Abiola since June 1993, if he laid claim to his mandate given to him by the Nigerian people in an election. Was this not a premeditated act to commit human rights violations?

Nigerians are asking IBB and other Islamic leaders if it was the wish of Allah, which finally came to pass on July 7, 1998 at Aguda House with the Chief Securing Officer to the Head of State as the Chief Imam. We could seek answer to the following questions from the former Heads of State.

6. Did Allah say that the international community led by the US, the Commonwealth and the UN should be mobilized by General Abubakar to finally end the life of the revered Chief?

8. Did Allah say that General Abubakar was to be made to bear the ‘cross’ or ‘crescent’, by his inaction after June 8, 1998, which eventually led to the death of Chief Abiola.

Maybe the foregoing incidents were due to Allah’s injunction. This is a lie. These are some of the issues that should be probed by the Oputa Commission. Nigerians knew that Chief Abiola died in captivity, in Abacha cum Abubakar Gulag. Nigerians knew that Chief Abiola died in the hands of the military. How they did it was not known before the testimony of the police Detail in charge of Chief Abiola.

But a thorough investigation of the issues in the annulment would tell us why they could not hold dialogue with Chief Abiola at any stage from 1993 to 1998.

As I stated in a lengthy essay in two parts, 1 and 2 on how to refocus the Oputa Commission, I specifically called on the Commission to stop beating about the bush and focus on two issues, the issues in the annulment and the nature of the armed forces.

In another appeal before the June 23, I pleaded with General Babangida to apologize to the Nigerian people for the harm done to Chief Abiola, the Nigerian voters and the Nigerian people. I thought he would use that occasion to call on the Nigerian military that they should jointly pledge that never again would the nation be brutally assaulted.

As part of my birthday wishes to him I also used This Day on Sunday to appeal to him that his 60^th Birthday should be another opportunity for him to do what he failed to do on June 23. It is rather late than never if he would use the opportunity of his prayer in Saudi Arabia to earnestly seek Allah’s face and face Nigerians at the Oputa Commission with his admission of his acts of omission, commission and indiscretion on any matters relating to his administration. It is an idea whose time has come; this is the nature of the right to truth in human rights violations. Please cooperate and move on.

MY ‘UNKNOWN ASSASSINS’ CAME FROM THE JUNTA

I am prepared to forgive you, IBB for the ‘unknown assassins’ sent to me on February 3, 1993 ostensibly to cover up all acts of betrayals. I could not be party to the untruth and dish out lies that there as no election because I knew there was one, which had a winner, Chief MKO Abiola. I had my hunch before that the source of my problem was from your office.

It is no more a hunch; I say this because when I read what IBB said about me OMO OMORUYI in the newspaper in This Day of Thursday December 7, 2000 that I was playing "a double game", I wept for the man. Me playing "double game", when I gave all including sacrifice my friends and family to ensure that IBB made history! Does IBB know that I am still carrying 8 pellets in my lower abdomen and on my hip, because of my commitment to IBB and what he asked me to do so that he might make history. I will not say more that this.

I read what IBB said about me within the context of what Alhaji Uba Ahmed told the northern political leaders in 1994/5 that IBB should not be blamed for the June 12, but Omo Omoruyi, who took over the Presidency. Another Brigadier said there was still a price on Omoruyi’s head for internationalizing the June 12, which they wanted to kill and bury. When I read what IBB lied to This Day about me I became convinced that that was the case made for his boys to kill me. I do not have to search for what the junta called ‘unknown assassins’ as my attackers on February 3, 1994. What do you do to a double agent? I am alive; God who gave me the second chance in life would not want me to be bitter. Vengeance is the prerogative of God.

Yes I took the Presidency over and stopped the antics of some jesters, especially when the official occupier became mad and incoherent and the country was drifting rudderless.

Nigerians did not know that there was no government between June 23, 1993 and August 26, 1993 and between August 27, 1993 and November 17, 1993. General Babangida was not in command during the first period (June-August 1993) and Chief Shonekan was only in charge of ‘Government’, which excluded the Armed Forces and Abuja between August and November 1993. I still believe that if the civil society had struck during this period, the Nigerian history would have been different today.

Whenever I recall MKO’s recollections on my hospital bed in London involving IBB’s perfidy and acts of betrayals; I still weep for the country. I weep that such a man should be allowed to parade himself as a former Head of State and even parading himself as an alternative to President Obasanjo. Let him try. Allah will tell him that the people he destroyed including Chief Abiola and his wife will wake up to vote for him. That day will be a day when all those who believe in democracy will stand to be counted.

ANNULMENT OF JUNE 12 LED TO THE DEATH OF YAR’ADUA AND THE FRAMING OF OBASANJO ETC

To the General Shehu Yar’Adua’s family, Shehu or Mallam Adamu Ciroma would have been President in January 1993, MKO Abiola as a candidate or June 12, 1993 would not have arisen, if IBB had dealt with Nigerians fairly and honestly.

Adamu is still alive today and Shehu’s successor in the person of the Vice President Atiku is also around. They knew the harm IBB did to them. Are they going to facilitate his ambition? Would they campaign for the man who has a pathological knack for betraying people and who actually betrayed them in the past? This is the history of Nigeria since 1992.

The damage done to the country as a result of the annulment of the June 12 is for everybody to testify to. There is no aspect of Nigerian life that is not still suffering its effect. The insecurity in the country is associated with the deep-seated uncertainty in the country, which arose from the democratic crisis.

IBB NOT AN ALTERNATIVE IN A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION TO OBASANJO OR ATIKU

For the interest of those who are wondering why I criticize President Obasanjo, let me say that my reasons for criticizing President Obasanjo is to call his attention to certain obvious and avoidable lapses.

I want him to free himself from those who are boasting that they put him in office. I want him to rule Nigeria from what Nigerians want and not from what his sponsors want.

A case in point is the inability of President Obasanjo to put order in his office. When will the President put his stamp of authority in his office? Example is the feuding between the Vice President who grew out of the grassroots and the National Security Adviser who grew out of the political generals who are boasting that they sponsored him. Does the President know that the Vice President is an integral part of the Presidency? Does the President know that what Nigerians want is a commitment to the Nigerian people and not to the military? When will President Obasanjo be his own man? When will he be dependent on the will of the Nigerian people?

Nigerians are asking when will President Obasanjo stop being dependent on the political generals such as Generals Babangida and Abubakar who between them are running the President’s Office through their nominees? Nigerians who asking know that IBB produced the National Security Adviser to the President and that General Abubakar produced the Chief of Staff to the President. Nigerians also know that they are both retired political generals. This is why they can say they would not go to the Oputa Commission. This is still the source of unhappiness of many Nigerians like me with President Obasanjo’s administration today that it does not have the moral authority to compel them to go to the Oputa Commission and tell Nigeria the truth.

My criticisms of Obasanjo is just to make him do better; God gave him the third opportunity in life to make history he should not be allowed to fail. I do not want to starve him of reasoned criticism. He ended the civil war; he handed over to an elected civilian ruler; he is now making himself the bridge between the military misrule and a democratic order and set up the machinery for resolving the lingering political problems caused by the annulment. These two tasks still remain the basis on which his legacy would be determined.

Let me make it clear to all those who have been reading me in the media that my criticism of Obasanjo is to make him do better. My criticisms should not in any way be interpreted to mean that IBB would do better. How can he do better? IBB is contemptuous of the civilian political order; he seriously believes that any civilian politician has a price.

IBB does not have faith in a free, fair and credible election; he does not believe that the voice of Nigerians should be their voice. How does he want to reap where he does not sow? This would apply to those who worked with him now masquerading as alternative to PDP President and his Vice President.

For those Arewa leaders who are busy negotiating with the Oputa Commission. One should ask why did IBB, Buhari, and Abubakar give the north such a bad name? Why are people not saying anything about General Gowon?

Alhaji MD Yusuf the leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum is an upright man who from all I knew and read of him would not countenance evil. Why are people not complaining about MD Yusuf who had responsibility for national security in the past?

  August, 2001