NIGERIA-POLITICS: Calls for Tougher Action

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Nov 13 1995 (IPS) - Nigerians called Monday for tougher action against their country’s military rulers following the Commonwealth’s decision to suspend it in protest against the execution of nine minority rights advocates.

“The two-year period given to the military by the Commonwealth to return Nigeria to democracy is too long,” said Frederick Fasehun, chair of the Movement for Social and Economic Justice — a local human rights group.

“Democracy has been kept outside the gate, we don’t need two years to get it. All we need is the release of Moshood Abiola who won a presidential election in 1993 and democracy will flourish,” he told IPS.

“Allowing the military two years is like subjecting Nigerians to a slow death which is very painful,” Fasehun added.

At their summit, which ended Sunday in Auckland, New Zealand, Commonwealth leaders suspended Nigeria from the body, giving it two years to improve its democratic credentials or face possible expulsion.

And on Monday, the South African Football Association withdrew an invitatation to Nigeria to participate in the 1996 Africa Nations Cup, the continent’s biggest soccer tournament, which starts in January.

The moves followed Friday’s hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of his Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), who were deemed responsible by the Nigerian authorities for the killing of four pro-government Ogoni leaders by an angry mob in May 1994.

The hangings took place despite international condemnation of the trial that led to the Oct. 31 conviction of the nine by a military tribunal, and appeals to the Nigerian regime for a stay of execution.

MOSOP led the fight against ecological degradation by oil companies such as Shell, whose 94 oil fields in Ogoniland and elsewhere in southern Nigeria cover 31,000 sq. km, and also demanded a fairer share of Nigeria’s oil revenues.

The executions led to demonstrations in Lagos, but a security clampdown in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, which includes Ogoni land, prevented protests.

The United States, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors from Nigeria and about 18 other nations were expected to pull out their envoys.

“It is total comprehensive sanctions that can help Nigeria and Nigerians because it will bring down this government,” said Fasehun. “The international community should stop buying our oil but if they are unable to do so, then they should stop paying to this government.”

“They should confiscate all monies saved in Europe and (the United States of) America in the names of past and present military rulers and those who ruined this country,” he added.

Ninety percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earning comes from oil.

A civil servant who asked not to be identified by name said the United Nations should also suspend Nigeria and urge all countries to sever diplomatic and economic relations with the Abuja regime.

He added that, “if possible, all countries should order their national airlines to stop flights to Nigeria … By total isolation this regime might be forced out.”

Nigerian government officials were unapologetic.

Hamisu Yadudu, special presidential adviser on legal matters, said the convictions and executions were based on the verdict of a legally constituted court of law which found the accused guilty of murder.

“Criminal conduct is not subject to international standards but the domestic laws and procedures of the country concerned,” Yadudu said in Abuja. “Nigeria is satisfied that criminal conduct has been established and the appropriate law applied.

“Suspending Nigeria (from the Commonwealth) is not appropriate. It has been carried out without due regard for the rule of non-interference in the international affairs of member- countries.”

A statement from the U.S embassy here said Washington had decided to ban all military sales to Nigeria.

The U.S. government has also decided to extend a ban on visits to the United States by senior Nigerian military and government officials and their families, to include all military officers and civilians who actively formulate, implement or benefit from the policies that impede Nigeria’s transition to democracy.