Re: Free Download Of Power Politics And Death By Segun Adeniyi
Lillia Iniguez
Government institutions responsible for investigating andprosecuting crime have failed to stop this tide of violence. Public officialsin Nigeriacan usually expect to enjoy complete impunity for any crimes they may commit,however egregious. In Anambra State, for example, police officials told HumanRights Watch that they were helpless to act against powerful PDP gubernatorialcandidate Andy Uba, even though they knew him to be mobilizing cult gangs inadvance of the elections-Uba was seen as too close to then-President OlusegunObasanjo and therefore untouchable. Former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili,among others, has not so far faced any formal investigation or sanction for hisalleged role in sponsoring armed groups that have plunged Rivers into a lastingstate of chaos.
Many Nigerians initially welcomed the military's 1966takeover, hoping it would bring law and order along with more honest andeffective government.[9]The military retained power from 1966 until 1979 but this was not a period ofstability or peace. Ironsi was murdered in a successful coup after less thanseven months in office by a group of northern military officers. His death wasfollowed by ethnic rioting across Nigeriathat helped precipitate Nigeria'shorrific Biafran civil war.[10]
After the civil war ended in 1970, Nigeria's ruling military continuedto be wracked with violent power struggles. Aside from Ironsi's murder thecountry saw one other head of state ousted in a coup and a third murdered in anattempted coup before the discredited military returned power to civilian handsin 1979.[11]The head of state who organized that transition was General Olusegun Obasanjo,who would return to power as a civilian leader twenty years later, in 1999.
Nigeriadid not return to elected civilian rule until after General Abacha died inoffice in 1998. By then, the excesses of the Abacha and Babangida years hadthoroughly discredited the military's claim on power and led to popular andinternational pressure for a return to civilian rule that had become impossibleto resist. Abacha's successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, soon organizedelections that ushered the military out of power and installed retired General OlusegunObasanjo as the first president of Nigeria'sFourthRepublic in May 1999.
Since the end of military rule, Nigeria has only added to itshistory of fraudulent and violent elections. The 1999 elections that broughtPresident Olusegun Obasanjo to power were marred by such widespread fraud thatobservers from the US-based CarterCenter concluded that "itis not possible for us to make an accurate judgment about the outcome of the presidentialelection."[19]
At no point was the human rights impact of Nigeria's violence epidemic sostark as during the country's April 2007 elections. Human Rights Watchestimates that a minimum of 300 Nigerians were killed in violence linked to the2007 elections; some credible estimates range considerably higher.[41]That death toll was higher than the reported figures from the violent 2003elections, which saw more than 100 Nigerians killed during the weekssurrounding the voting exercise alone.[42]The violence that accompanied the 2007 polls was widespread and openlyorganized on such a scale as to lay bare deeper patterns of corruption andabuse in politics to an unusual degree.
Godfatherism is both a symptom and a cause of the violenceand corruption that together permeate the political process in Nigeria.Public officials who owe their position to the efforts of a political godfatherincur a debt that they are expected to repay without end throughout theirtenure in office. Godfathers are only relevant because politicians are able todeploy violence and corruption with impunity to compete for office in conteststhat often effectively, and sometimes actually, exclude Nigeria's voters altogether. Buttheir activities also help to reinforce the central role of violence andcorruption in politics by making it even more difficult to win elected officewithout resorting to the illegal tactics they represent. Nigeria's godfatherismphenomenon is not unique to the ruling PDP, but as with many of the otherabuses described in this report it is seen most often in the conduct of PDPofficials as both a cause and a result of the party's success in maintainingitself in power.
This report provides detailed accounts of human rightsabuses fueled by the activities of two of Nigeria's best-known politicalgodfathers. The OyoState case study belowdescribes the power wielded by Chief Lamidi Adedibu. Adedibu, a dominant figurein the PDP in Oyo, has been instrumental in preventing free and fair electionsand placing violence and corruption at the heart of politics in his state. The AnambraStatecase study discusses another of Nigeria'siconic political godfathers, Chris Uba, who is a member of the PDP's nationalBoard of Trustees.
Many individualsfacing credible allegations of human rights abuse and corruption have beenrewarded with positions of influence and power by the government and the PDP. AnambraState political godfather Chris Uba-whosealleged crimes are detailed in the Anambra case study of this report-remains amember of the PDP board of trustees. Chris Uba's brother Andy received thepresidency's political support for his bid for the governorship of AnambraState despite his implication in corruptactivities and his campaign team's open recruitment of cult gangs to intimidatehis electoral opponents. OyoState political godfatherLamidi Adedibu has retained his position of political power within the PDP andOyo politics as a whole despite his open involvement in fomenting politicalviolence in the state. The situations in Oyo and AnambraStatesand the roles of the Uba brothers and Adedibu are discussed below in thisreport.[132]
Chief Lamidi Adedibu has been involved in Oyo politics sincethe 1950s. His many detractors allege that he got his start as a small-timeorganizer of political thugs for the Action Group party of Chief ObafemiAwolowo.[158]By the late 1980s, however, he had emerged as a powerful political forcethrough a combination of populist politics, patronage, violence, and extortion.[159]
Adedibu is an iconic figure in Nigerian politics, an exampleof the kind of power to which political godfathers aspire.[160]When Human Rights Watch visited Adedibu's Ibadancompound in the run-up to the 2007 elections, he held court sprawled across alarge chair underneath a tin roof adjacent to his car park, which was crowdedwith a long-line of would-be supplicants. Adedibu's every word brought nods orcheers from those who crowded around to listen, and several people who walkedacross his field of vision immediately prostrated themselves as a gesture ofdeference when he glanced up in their general direction.
Adedibu flaunts his political power quite openly, tellingHuman Rights Watch that, "I sponsor them, all of the politicians [in thestate.]"[161]Oyo's current governor, Christopher Alao-Akala, is a protg of Adedibu's andtold Human Rights Watch that "Chief Adedibu has sponsored everybody. Everybodywho is who and who in OyoState politics has passed through that place[Adedibu's compound in Ibadan]."[162]Adeolu Adeleke, Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly until April 2007,eventually became an opponent of Adedibu's but confirmed that he had initiallyobtained his sponsorship in order to get elected. "I did go to Baba and he didsponsor me," he said. "I believed I could not do anything contrary to him. Someof my colleagues [in the House] also went to him."[163]
Adedibu's power flows primarily from his tremendous abilityto mobilize violence and money in support of the politicians he sponsors. Healso distributes cash and food to supplicants on a daily basis from his Ibadan home, a brand of patronage frequently referred toas "amala politics," after atraditional dish common to Nigeria'ssouthwest.[164]
[11] Yakubu Gowon succeeded General Ironsi in power and led Nigeria throughthe Biafran civil war. Gowon was overthrown in July 1975 and his successor,Murtala Mohammed, was murdered during a failed coup attempt in February 1976.Mohammed was succeeded by his deputy at the time of his death, General OlusegunObasanjo.
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