This article was written by Okey Ndiribe for the Nigerian newspaper the Vanguard 21 January. It has been edited for republication here.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Federal Government has been “judicially” barred from implementing the recommendations of the Human Rights Violations Investigations Commission (HRVIC) otherwise known as the Oputa panel, debates on the findings of the panel have continued to rage across the country. The tempo of debates on the work of the panel heightened in the past few weeks. The commission which was inundated with numerous cases of human rights violations not only reconciled some of the victims of human rights violations with culprits responsible for the harm they suffered, it also made wide-ranging recommen-dations on how the rights of the citizens of Nigeria could be protected in future.
-Compensation for human rights violations needed
Already, civil society groups have claimed responsibility for circulating the report. Front-line human rights lawyer Mr Olisa Agbakoba ( SAN), told the Vanguard?s reporter that 25 groups including the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Human Rights Laws (HURILAWS) and the Catholic Secretariat teamed up and decided that the report has to be published for Nigerians to study and become more informed about the dark era of military rule in the nation?s life. According to Agbakoba: “The report deliberated on many aspects of the nation?s life. These included its findings on the slain founder of Newswatch magazine, Mr Dele Giwa; the acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Abiola and his wife Kudirat; the Umuechem, Rivers state massacre of 1990 and the assassination of Chief Alfred Rewane. The panel also made recom-mendations on establishing a fund for the compensation of victims of human rights violations. Agbakoba said that such a fund is important because the government has a responsibility to compensate victims whose rights were violated by state security personnel and other government officials.
-Legal bodies for reconciliation needed as well
Agbakoba further said that compensation given to victims of human rights violations would go a long way in healing the wounds inflicted on them even if the perpetrators of these violations are not eventually punished for the atrocities they committed adding that this would promote reconciliation. According to him: “The general trend across the whole world is to set up a panel that can reconcile victims and perpetrators of human rights violations instead of setting up judicial panels that can have the power to punish offenders. A judicial panel that can bark and bite may not have been able to handle the enormous task that the Oputa panel was given. The focus of the panel was more on reconciliation and less on punishment. This was why part of its recommendation was the resolution of the nation?s numerous problems through what it called national palavers ” he added.
-The government is misusing human rights panel
Activist Lagos lawyer Mr. Femi Falana concurs. Falana further explained to journalists he spoke to in Lagos recently that the reconciliatory purpose for which the panel was set determined the nature and powers that were given to it from inception. According to him: “… On the Oputa panel?s report, the court conceded that it was at best set up by the Federal Government to ask and receive infor-mation from anyone who was willing to offer and that the commission had no power to compel any witness who was not willing to cooperate with it”. Many observers of the panel?s proceedings agreed with Falana that the court?s inter-pretation of the panel?s powers was one of the major reasons why it could not compel some past heads of state and retired security personnel to appear before it.
-For people to come forward, the government must guarantee protection
Despite the refusal of Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Muhammadu Buhari and Abdulsalami Abubakar to appear before the panel, the commission went ahead to make recommendations on some cases in which complaints were brought against them. The chairman of the commission had stated in the report currently in circulation that: “We cannot wish these cases away nor can we sweep them under the carpet. What is more, there is need to create a conducive atmosphere to enable everyone who might have some relevant information regarding these ugly events to come forward with such information. It would be important for the government to guarantee such citizens enough protection”.
HRH is in the proecess of establishing contact with the independent human rights environment in Nigeria. As part of this process, some readers may have noticed that www.humanrightshouse.org has intensified its coverage of the the human rights situation in the country.
