(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 background briefing note on renewed attacks on human rights in Nigeria: **Updates IFEX alerts of 3 May, 30 April 1999, 28 April** With less than four weeks to go before the Nigerian Military Government fulfils its pledge to hand power over to a civilian government, human […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 background briefing note
on renewed attacks on human rights in Nigeria:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 3 May, 30 April 1999, 28 April**
With less than four weeks to go before the Nigerian Military Government
fulfils its pledge to hand power over to a civilian government, human rights
violations continue.
While most political prisoners and detainees have been released in the past
few months, not a single repressive law or decree has been revoked. This has
caused local and international human rights organisations to express concern
that it is too early to take the Nigeria off the “sick list” of
undemocratically ruled countries (as some foreign governments and
international organisations have in the past weeks).
In the last week alone, over a dozen people, mostly journalists and trade
union leaders, have been arrested and many more declared wanted in an
attempt to suppress critical voices and those exercising their democratic
rights.
For instance, on 2 May 1999, the editor of the “Weekend Diet” newspaper was
arrested, ironically on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, by plain clothes
men from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian Police. The
arrest was for publishing a story on 24 April on the real reasons for the
“retirement” of the Inspector General of Police Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie.
Exactly one week earlier, on 25 April, the chairman of the Lagos council of
the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lanre Arogundade, was arrested on
the basis of petitions by known political opponents. These persons, most of
whom work for federal government establishments, had alleged on the basis of
no evidence whatsoever that Arogundade was responsible for the recent death
of a former journalist and ex-official of the NUJ.
Arogundade has also had his home searched while in detention on further
allegations of gun running. His arrest has led to protests by journalists,
human rights and freedom of expression organisations locally and
internationally, who have criticised his detention without trial as a
punishment for his leading role in campaigning against press freedom abuses
and for freedom of expression.
This is the fourth time since the Abubakar regime came to power that he has
been arrested on the basis of spurious allegations.
Arogundade was formally arraigned before a Magistrate court on 4 May 1999 on
charges of conspiracy and murder. This is despite the fact that it is known
that under Nigerian law, Magistrate courts do not have the power to try
murder cases. Arogundade is therefore being held under what is known as a
“Holden charge”, which permits the indefinite detention of persons. The last
political prisoners to be held under this charge were the Ogoni 21, who
spent up to three and a half years in prison. The fact that they were held
for the same bogus offence used to facilitate the judicial murder of Ken
Saro Wiwa should be warning enough of the intentions of the government.
(Local human rights and journalists organisations and trade unions have
pointed out that the ploy of smearing political prisoners with criminal
charges so as to undermine support for them has been exposed following the
case of Ken Saro Wiwa).
Within the past week also, civil servants that have been on strike for two
weeks have had ten of their leaders arrested and twenty-four others declared
wanted by various state governments. Amongst the ten arrested are Plateau
State Nigerian Labour Congress Chairman William Alkali, and Datuwang Dafes
and Hansi Sulaimn, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, of the Plateau
State Joint Negotiating committee. For challenging their arrest and
upholding the rights of the workers to strike, the State chairman and
secretary of the NUJ, Chris Gyang and Alhaji Shittu Bamayi, have been
declared wanted by the police.
In Lagos, Ayodele Akele, the Chairman of the Lagos Council of Industrial
Unions, has been threatened with instant re-arrest should he set foot on any
government owned premises. Akele was earlier arrested and sacked from his
job as a Quantity surveyor with the Lagos State Property Development
Corporation when Lagos State civil servants initiated the now nation-wide
strike. In several states, striking workers have been tear gassed by the
police at peaceful rallies and marches. The strikes were triggered by
General Abubarkar announcing a new minimum wage on coming to power and then
reversing the decision months later after consolidating his position. The
official reason for the reversal being that the government had discovered it
could not afford it.
There are also the cases of expelled student leaders from various
universities and higher institutions, which have been reiterated in the past
month as being final and irreversible. Prominent amongst these are the case
of ten student leaders from the Obafemi Awolowo University that have been
declared as “finally expelled” on 29 April by the university authorities.
The cases of these students, including former Union President Anthony
Fasayo, is especially pertinent as they were rusticated in the aftermath of
protests against the judicial murder of writer and environmental rights
activist Ken Saro Wiwa.
Against the background of these cases, pro-democracy organisations in the
country have expressed further concern that neither the incoming
president-elect nor his deputy have made any public statement about this
latest wave of attacks on civil liberties.
The international community seems no less complacent. Both the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), and the Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group (CMAG) have indicated in the past few weeks their unwillingness
to continue with official monitoring of the human rights situation in
Nigeria. The UNCHR has decided not to renew the mandate of the UN special
rapporteur on Human Rights for Nigeria. CMAG has recommended that the
Nigerian government be readmitted on 29 May into full membership of the
fifty-four member Commonwealth of Nations from which it was suspended in
1995.
For further i
