More News Dump ! 06/13/96 Kola Abiola Detained over Kudirat's
Caleb Oriade
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:39:48 -0400
From: Beb...@aol.com
To: ao-...@sfu.ca
Subject: More News Dump ! 06/13/96 Kola Abiola Detained over Kudirat's Death !
LAGOS, June 13 (Reuter) - The eldest son of Nigerian presidential
claimant Moshood Abiola has been detained by police investigating the murder
of his stepmother, Nigerian newspapers reported on Thursday.
There was no immediate police confirmation of the detention of
businessman Kola Abiola, 33, which featured prominently in nearly all
Nigerian newspapers, including the National Concord owned by Moshood Abiola.
The Concord said Kola Abiola, who is managing director of his father's
Summit Oil Company and Concord Airlines was picked up on Tuesday by
detectives of the federal intelligence and investigation bureau and his
passport seized.
His stepmother Kudirat Abiola was brutally killed by unknown gunmen in
Lagos on Tuesday last week and the authorities have promised a thorough
investigation into the murder.
Mrs Abiola had championed the campaign to free and install her husband as
president based on the results of the annulled 1993 presidential election.
Nigeria has been in crisis since the nullification of the vote which was
widely believed to have been won by Abiola, a millionaire businessman
detained since 1994 when he proclaimed himself president in defiance of
Nigeria's military government.
Abiola's large family of many wives and scores of children has been
publicly feuding over which lawyer should represent him in the numerous court
cases over his stalled treason trial.
Early this year Kola applied to the court to dump the lawyer chosen for
Abiola by Kudirat, saying his father had instructed him to do so in order to
facilitate his release.
But the stepmother refused, causing much public wrangling by the family.
Police sources have said several members of the family would be
interrogated over the murder.
From Beb...@aol.com Thu Jun 13 09:22:47 1996
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:37:43 -0400
From: Beb...@aol.com
To: ao-...@sfu.ca
Subject: More News Dumps ! 06/13/96...More on June 12
By James Jukwey
LAGOS, June 13 (Reuter) - Three years after the army annulled a
presidential election and precipitated a crisis that threatened to tear
Nigeria apart, the protests seem finally to be fading.
The phrase ``June 12'' has passed into popular usage, instantly summoning
up memories of the election anniversary and the political turmoil that
followed.
In 1994, on the first anniversary of the annulled poll, strikes and riots
crippled Nigeria. Last year the intensity of protests was far less.
And this year, the anniversary on Wednesday passed with only a token
protest. Driving rain and a heavy police presence on the streets nullified
threatened rallies by opposition groups.
``The ``struggle' has grown tamed. Only muffled grunts are heard,'' wrote
the independent Thisday newspaper in a major article by four of its senior
reporters to mark the day.
While radical pro-democracy groups called for street protests to mark
June 12, the leaders of the main opposition movement NADECO called only for
fasting and prayers.
``People say that this is a measure of the fatigue that has set in,''
wrote the four journalists.
Lagos-based diplomats agreed that the tempo of the battle against the
annulment of the vote had waned.
``The situation is definitely not the same as in 1994 when Chief
Moshood
Abiola declared himself president,'' said one.
Abiola, one of Africa's richest men is widely believed to have won the
poll which was to restore Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with about
100 million people, to democracy.
He has been detained since June 1994 when he defied military ruler
General Sani Abacha and proclaimed himself president.
An infantry general who seized power in November 1993 on the heels of the
chaos unleashed by the election, Abacha appears through strongarm tactics to
have contained the opposition and reduced it to merely issuing news releases
to foreign media.
Many opposition figures are detained or imprisoned over an alleged coup
plot last year, while others have fled abroad.
Abacha, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with his own plan which he says will
restore democracy fully in 1998.
The opposition and Western nations opposed to his government have derided
the plan, which kicked off with municipal polls in March. Leading politicians
have formed groups ready to contest for power.
``Abacha specialises in war of attrition and for him the longer the
crisis drags on the more he is bound to wear down the opposition,'' said one
African diplomat.
The row that erupted over the hanging last November of Ken Saro-Wiwa and
eight other Ogoni activists convicted of murder, after a trial which the West
viewed as flawed, has simmered on.
But sanctions invoked against Nigeria are relatively minor, and oil --
the backbone of the economy -- continues to flow.
Most goes to the United States, despite its denunciation of the West
African country's human rights record, most recently summed up by Assistant
Secretary of State for Human Rights John Shattuck: ``There is a reign of
terror.''
Inside Nigeria, senior politicians say the nation has no choice but to
cooperate with the army to ease them out of power.
``We cannot disgrace them out of power,'' commented Don Etiebet, a former
oil minister and possible presidential aspirant in 1998.
BUCHAREST, June 11 (Reuter) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe pledged
on Tuesday to step up pressure on Nigeria in a bid to speed up establishment
of democracy there.
``We have decided to set up a committee of foreign ministers which will
monitor the situation in Nigeria,'' said Mugabe, when asked about trouble in
Nigeria during a visit to Romania.
``The committee will meet in London under the Zimbabwe presidency and
will ask for sanctions on the Nigerian government,'' he said of a
Commonwealth initiative.
Mugabe's statement as Nigerian authorities announced they had banned
meetings, political rallies and demonstrations ahead of anniversary of the
annulled 1993 presidential vote, presumed to have been won by Moshood Abiola
-- now under house arrest.
Abiola's wife Kudirat was murdered by gunmen a week ago.
Mugabe said he did not believe Nigerian authorities would cooperate with
the new Commonwealth committee and that they would not allow it to monitor
the situation there.
``It's quite possible they will refuse the committee representatives to
look into the present situation there, but we have to help people who want
democracy instead of dictatorship,'' Mugabe said in response to a question.
Mugabe and Romanian President Ion Iliescu talked about how to boost ties
between their. An agreement on trade and economic cooperation was signed by
Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge and Romanian Trade Minister Dan Ioan
Popescu.
LAGOS, June 12 (Reuter) - Tropical storms and a heavy police presence on
Lagos streets on Wednesday appeared to stifle protests planned by activists
to mark the third anniversary of an annulled 1993 presidential vote.
``Who is going to come out and demonstrate in this kind of weather?,''
asked taxi driver Babatunde Kayode, his car half submerged by floods in
Nigeria's biggest city.
Central Lagos was normal with no sign of any protests.
Riot police, some in armoured vehicles, have deployed in potential
trouble spots since Tuesday to prevent protests that opposition groups have
said will go ahead to mark the June 12 election deemed to have been won by
detained millionaire Moshood Abiola.
Residents of Ibadan, in western Nigeria where a university was shut last
week when students rioted over the murder of Abiola's senior wife said the
city was quiet.
``There are no major events in Ibadan. Police are everywhere,'' said a
journalist.
Nigeria has been in crisis since the army annulled the election which was
to restore democracy in Africa's most populous nation.
The opposition NADECO group on Wednesday launched radio broadcasts to
keep its struggle with the military alive.
``It is our view that there should be serious sanctions, particularly an
oil embargo to create an environment for the early termination of military
rule,'' exiled NADECO chieftain Anthony Enahoro said in a broadcast on the
Radio Democrat International Nigeria.
From Beb...@aol.com Thu Jun 13 09:22:28 1996
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:33:22 -0400
From: Beb...@aol.com
To: ao-...@sfu.ca
Subject: News Dump ! 06/13/96 Govt Reforms Tough Decrees...Hmm
By James Jukwey
LAGOS, June 12 (Reuter) - Nigeria's military government chose a day of
protest by the opposition on Wednesday to reform two tough decrees including
the one under which nine minority rights activists were tried and hanged for
murder last year.
Also amended was Decree 2 under which dozens of people have long been
detained without trial.
Its amendment provides hope that some of the detainees will secure their
freedom through the courts which are now allowed to hear their suits against
detention.
The justice ministry said with immediate effect no military person would
now sit on the special disturbances tribunal such as the one that convicted
writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of the Movement for the Survival of
Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP).
It said in a statement the verdict of the tribunal would also be subject
to appeal. Before, there was no right of appeal.
Among opposition figures held under Decree 2 is prominent Lagos lawyer
Gani Fawehinmi.
The reforms follow the report of a U.N. fact-finding mission which toured
Nigeria last month and recommended against U.N. sanctions on Nigeria, saying
they would slow progress towards democracy through the government's plan to
hand over in 1998.
Nigeria has been in crisis since 1993 when a previous army government
annulled an election to end military rule.
Tropical storms and heavy policing turned the national day of protest to
mark the third anniversary of the annulled vote into a token show of defiance
when only four members of Campaign for Democracy (CD) pressure group,
appeared at a designated rally venue in Lagos and distributed leaflets to
passers-by.
``Down with the junta,'' sang the four, who included CD's secretary Joe
Okei, in a protest song that lasted less than 10 minutes before they
dispersed.
The government accused opposition groups of trying to destabilise
Africa's most populous nation.
But the only other act of defiance against the government was on the
airwaves, with the opposition making radio broadcasts to keep their struggle
with the military alive.
``Nigerians may be dehumanised but (military ruler General Sani) Abacha
cannot touch their will which was demonstrated in 1993,'' exiled Nigerian
Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka said on the Radio Democrat International
Nigeria.
In Kano, northern Nigeria special duties minister Wada Nas alleged that
opposition groups planned to destabilise Nigeria. Nas has made similar
allegations in the past.
Police spokesman Tunji Alapini told Reuters there had been no reports of
demonstrations. ``Everywhere is peaceful,'' he said.
Central Lagos suffered the usual traffic jams worsened by flooding caused
by three days of continuing rain.
Riot police, some in armoured vehicles, were deployed in potential
trouble spots on Tuesday to prevent any protests that opposition groups had
vowed would go ahead.
The political temperature in Nigeria has soared since the killing of
Abiola's wife last week.
LAGOS, June 12 (Reuter) - Nigeria's military government on Wednesday
announced the reform of two tough decrees including the one under which nine
minority rights activists were tried and hanged for murder last year.
The justice ministry said with immediate effect no military person would
now sit on the special disturbances tribunal such as the one that convicted
writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of the Movement for the Survival of
Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP).
It said in a statement that the verdict of the tribunal would also now be
subject to appeal. Before, there was no right of appeal.
The justice ministry said a decree under which many people deemed
security risks are held without trial had been amended to allow courts to
hear their suits against detention.
Among such political detainees is prominent Lagos lawyer Gani Fawehinmi.
The reforms follow the report of a U.N. fact-finding mission which toured
Nigeria last month and recommended against U.N. sanctions on Nigeria, saying
they would retard progress towards democracy through the government's plan to
hand over in 1998.
Nigeria has been in crisis since 1993 when a previous army government
annulled an election to end military rule.
Protests called by opposition groups on Wednesday to mark the third
anniversary of the annulled vote were a failure when ........