The Problem With The Oputa Panel

The Problem With The Oputa Panel

The biggest problem with the Oputa panel, currently investigating human rights violations, is the existence of an elite consensus at the heart of the Nigerian power equation and how that consensus is stretching its influence into the workings of the Oputa panel, with no foreseeable effect other than the sabotage of that panel. Perhaps when we use the phrase consensus, we dignify the factor that we seek to define; a more appropriate phrase is conspiracy. At every turn in Nigerian history since 1960, this elite conspiracy has determined the direction of the country, the resolution of conflicts, the creation of heroes and villains, and the award of honour and punishment.

There is in every society an elite group that wields power and influence, and that should not be surprising. But what is surprising is that here, the Nigerian elite that emerged post-independence has proven to be a rapacious and conscienceless class of fortune seekers. Their principal project has been the preservation of the interest of the class: which simply defined, involves the appropriation of national resources and opportunities, and the creation of an oligarchy which has remained active at all seasons. It is this elite conspiracy that has made the violation of the country's laws possible; it is what is responsible for the terrible gap between the rich and the poor; it is the only reason why the rich and the connected always manage to beat the law, and the poor get punished.

It is the reason why we have in this society men who have never done anything else in their lives other than to move from one government appointment to another. It also explains the emergence of a dynasty in the public space: children of privileged members of the elite are the ones who get appointed into important government positions. It doesn't matter whether they are qualified or not: all of them today who are either sitting in the National Assembly or on important boards, or occupying space as commissioners and Federal Ministers, or as holders of national honours know that the only reason they are where they are is because they bear a name that has entered the register of the privileged class. Because there is an elite conspiracy in this land, crooks get appointed to high office, persons who have soiled their names in the past, ex-convicts and all sorts: these are the guys at the top.

They are determined. They are mean. They have power and resources. They do not act in vain. This class, so-called does not speak in ethnic terms. It speaks only in terms of the interests that are dear to it. When persons within the class are believed to have stepped out of line: they are promptly punished, and they may lose their lives in the process. In the old Western region, SLA Akintola was generally respected as a talented orator and politician but he stepped out of line within his own region without having consolidated his links within the larger class. When the hawks of Yoruba politics went after him, they managed to hurt him very badly. MKO Abiola, say what you will, was a member of that class. When he wanted more than his rivals within the class were willing to allot to him, they vetoed his ambition, got him detained and killed him. Musa Yar'Adua and Obasanjo became too powerful for some cliques within the power-bloc; so they blackmailed the two of them and put them away. Yar'Adua died. Obasanjo survived and his own men within the power-bloc have managed to rehabilitate him. The power elite is thus very competitive within its ranks.

Surviving within the group requires a number of survival strategies. It means staying within the compass of the operative consensus at any particular moment. And this has nothing to do with the interest of the common man. You and I do not count at all. We would only become relevant when as individuals and as groups, we manage to smash the conspiracy of the elite, and return power appropriately to where it ought to belong: that is, the public arena. For the powers-that-be, what is involved as instrument of survival could be a change of name and there are many in this land who have had to change their names in mid-career to suit the winds of political fortune. Or a change of religion: this is very common. Or being a sycophant: for many persons in high places, this is a natural response, and they could switch loyalty as the direction of the wind changes. Marriage is another weapon: marry into a powerful family, grab the daughters of big men and you are on your way. But the principal rule of survival is: don't ever rock the boat. For example, President Olusegun Obasanjo is planning a lot of reforms; 18 months later he is still planning and laying the blocks. It is simple: he really cannot afford to rock the boat.

Now, one man who is trying to rock the boat is Hamza Al-Mustapha, Sani Abacha's Chief Security Officer (CSO). Abacha is dead but Mustapha is still acting as his CSO. Abacha rocked the boat. Mustapha is threatening to upturn the passengers into the waters. In the last week, a battle line has been drawn between him and the members of the elite class who are his potential victims. The guys are not folding their arms. They have set elite conspiracy of the most vicious kind into motion. The Oputa panel is in fact so intimidated that it has had to announce that in the future, it may have to take evidence from Mustapha in camera. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa's excuse is that "national security" is at stake. Please what is that? How does the revelation of the identity of some of the persons who brought the nation to this sad season amount to a breach of national security? If Mustapha is lying, the proper thing to do is to allow the affected persons to give their own evidence. It would be his word against theirs: somewhere in-between would be the truth. And part of the Oputa panel's assignment is to find that truth. But as things stand, what is called elite conspiracy does not work out that way. It leaves nothing to chance. That is the only reason why last Friday, Justice Oputa would declare that all the witnesses that appeared before the panel have been telling a lot of lies. The eminent Justice Oputa did not name names. He didn't have to. All he needed to do was to drop a hint about the credibility of the witnesses. But he would have to tell us specifically who among the witnesses has been lying. And if he refuses, then let him buy a lot of white handkerchiefs and keep them close by. If he thinks any witness is lying, he should just give him or her the handkerchief and ask that the person should "clean his mouth".

In any case, the panel has been one big circus. The entertainment has indeed been so riveting that every other major news including the return of Okadigbo to the Senate (!), the killing of a Nigerian child in London (very sad), the explosion at Atlas Cove (madness at work), fuel scarcity (terrible), US presidential elections (na wa) and the threat of another fuel price increase (let them not try it oh!), have been pushed to the background. Nothing else has proved more worthy of attention than the spectacle of Zakari Biu hugging Chris Anyanwu and enjoying some quality body chemistry; Abubakar Tsav taking photograph with the son of Omotshola, Ibrahim Yakassai wiping away some crocodile tears, Ore Falomo exchanging a form of morbid joke with Mustapha... Justice Oputa taking us on a tour of the deterntion centers in Lagos. Those who have attended the panel's sitting in Lagos have also reported that at every turn the Chairman of the panel himself leads the performance. The spectators clap and jeer. At some point Oputa would ask the two actors to either shake hands or embrace or forgive each other.

Clearly, government and its clients are happy with the burlesque. What they didn't bargain for is Mustapha's treachery. But let the point be made that Mustapha's testimony is the only redeeming point of the Oputa Panel so far. What he has said is just as important as what he is yet to say. He has managed to expose the military as a useless institution and the intelligence agencies as a playfield for psychopaths and rapists. The effect is instructive. Members of his family are being threatened by unidentified callers. Generals who have an interest in the matter including Abdusalami Abubakar, Victor Malu and Oladipo Diya, who has suddenly found is voice, have all been responding to him. The Federal Government seems uncomfortable: Mustapha want is to rock the boat. He is throwing stones in the direction of entrenched members of the elite class. The real fear is that he may set a bad example, and every future witness who has some information on the elite would start singing. The power elite has too many things to hide. Who knows what Gani Fawehinmi would say if he gets a chance to appear for Dele Giwa? Or what Niran Malaolu, George Mbah and Kunle Ajibade would say? The Oputa panel is beginning to behave like a prodigal.

What happened when the Oputa panel visited the detention centers in Lagos last Friday is further instructive. The place had been renovated! Some of the former inmates could no longer recognize their old cells. And yet Justice Oputa calls witnesses liars. The biggest liar in this circus is government. It is the one trying to cover up the truth. The renovation of the detention centres prior to the visit of the Oputa panel, and despite the fact that the panel had earlier indicated its intention to visit those centers should be seen for what it is: tampering with the evidence. And it is a pity. President Obasanjo had promised long ago that there will be no sacred cows in this land. Trying to gag witnesses by calling them liars and proposing to take evidence in camera, amounts to only one thing: an attempt by the Mafia at the top to protect its privileged members from being embarrassed in public by aggrieved detainees. But who cares about the interest of the common man in this matter?

Candidly, I think the Oputa panel should close shop and go home. I don't think government is serious. They don't want to rock the boat. They don't want the truth. They just want people to come and hug each other, and embrace their old enemies, and receive funny emotional support. Elite conspiracy can be rather intimidating. It is being used to intimidate Mustapha and the rest of us who want to know the truth. They say they don't want Mustapha to cause any confusion. Okay, let them wind up. It's enough. We'd remember the Oputa panel for the entertainment that it provided while it lasted. But before then, let the panel remember to put the drama on home video. It would prove to be a major source of foreign exchange for government.

The writer wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria