NIGERIA-POLITICS: Detainees Unbowed

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 5 1996 (IPS) - Civil rights campaigner Sylvester Odion- Akhaine endured 348 days in solitary confinement before his release on New Year’s eve, along with a number of other political prisoners, by Nigeria’s military government.

But he believes his freedom was meant to have been shortlived. A heavily bruised face, an ankle bandaged and a toe in plaster are injuries he sustained when he was pushed from a moving lorry he had hitched a lift home on, in what he alleges was an assassination attempt by security agents.

Whether or not he was the victim of a botched murder attempt as he claims, Odion-Akhaine, general secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), is a staunch and determined opponent of Nigeria’s military rulers.

That stand led to his arrest last January in the south-western port city of Lagos, and his transfer to Birni-Kebbi prison in the arid far north near the border with Niger.

“This was the longest time I have been detained and it was a tortuous experience,” the 32-year-old civil liberties campaigner told IPS.

His time behind bars was not helped by the attitude of the mainly northern police and prison officers who, he says, regard political dissidents in ethnic terms: as people out to end the majority north’s political dominance cemented through years of army rule, which “informed the treatment meted out to me when I arrived Birni-Kebbi prison.”

Although not physically abused, “the food was sub-human, there is an open well in the compound and the water is green and the desert climate very hostile.”

“Rats shared my meals and mosquitoes could best be described as an army,” he added. He did however have access to a small garden when his cell was unlocked during the day where he grew vegetables to supplement his “rotten” meals, giving some to the warders.

In solitary confinement with just a bunk-bed, a piece of foam as a mattress and a blanket, he wrote more than 100 poems on his prison conditions on empty packets of sugar which he plans to publish soon.

The release of Odion-Akhaine and a number of other political detainees over the past two-weeks is seen by pro-democracy groups here as a result of the international pressure on the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha over its human rights record and delay in returning to civilian rule.

“There is no basis for their incarceration in the first place. But for the mounting pressure from the international community, they would have remained in custody till eternity,” Lagos-based politician Abraham Adesanya believes.

“Thanks to God that they (the government) made the mistake of hanging Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa exposed them to the international community. Saro-Wiwa saved us all.”

The minority rights activist and eight colleagues were executed on Nov. 10 despite appeals for clemency, triggering international outrage and, albeit limited, sanctions.

But the man at the centre of Nigeria’s political crisis, Moshood Abiola, remains behind bars with no firm word from Abacha’s government on when he will be freed.

Abiola, a south-western-based business tycoon, won presidential elections in June 1993 in what monitors regarded as the fairest poll since the country’s independence. A Muslim, his victory was achieved by taking surprising numbers of votes in the predominantly Islamic north.

When the inevitability of his win became apparent, Nigeria’s then military leader stepped in and overturned the election. Abacha, a leading member of that government, refused to honour the election result when he took power five-months later.

Abiola was arrested in July 1994 on treason charges when he declared himself president on the anniversary of the poll. His detention, and the annulment of a democratic poll, continues to divide Nigeria. Arguing there can be no turning back, Abacha is going ahead with a political timetable culminating in fresh elections and a civilian government in 1998.

However, “the real issue is Jun. 12 (the 1993 election) and we seem to lack the courage to address it,” stresses another south- western politician, Lekan Balogun.

Ademola Adeniji-Adele agrees. A member of the influential National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), he was released on Dec. 30 after more than 16 months in detention.

“The fact that I was put in detention does not mean that I was wrong, and the fact that they kept us in jail does not mean they are right or that they are more patriotic,” he says.

“Nigerians must work together. We must unite but we must not compromise our stand. The only way to achieve this is through democracy.”

Odion-Akhaine still believes the only political solution for Nigeria is the immediate termination of military rule and the formation of a broadbased government of national unity headed by Abiola.

“The country is in a mess. It is by making great sacrifices that we can liberate our country,” he says. “If we don’t see the Nigeria of our dreams at least we would have worked for our children to see it.”

The New Year’s resolution of the civil rights campaigner? To write his will.

NIGERIA-POLITICS: Detainees Unbowed

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 5 1996 (IPS) - Civil rights campaigner Sylvester Odion- Akhaine endured 348 days in solitary confinement before his release on New Year’s eve, along with a number of other political prisoners, by Nigeria’s military government.
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