FEATURE ARTICLE |
Leburah Ganago | Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
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[email protected] Atlanta, GA, USA |
A STATE OF BLOOD
lood is now flowing on the streets of Nigeria. And sadly, this is happening in a supposedly democratic dispensation. The western world led by the United States and Great Britain, take great pride in telling the word that democracy is the best form of government because as they argue, it guarantees citizens� freedom and liberty , freedom of association and participation . In an ideal democratic set up the sanctity of human life should also be respected. A democracy should also ensure a peaceful and orderly change of government.
However, in the third world, no, in Nigeria, democracy is assuming a different meaning. There, we are witnessing a democracy that is turning an entire country into a killing field. We are seeing a country that has fallen into the hands of a vicious gang of treasury looters and murderers-organized banditry. A day hardly passes in Nigeria without a prominent politician reporting escaping assassination attempts on his life or one actually been fell by the assassin bullet.
I do not know if it would be correct to say that the machinery of state security has broken down, for one can only say that when you are sure that there has been a state security meant to protect citizens. Rather one is wont to assert that there seem to be a state security put in place only to hunt down those who would not keep quiet or those who would not stop complaining about how badly democracy has been bastardized and how blatantly the public treasury is being looted. But what is obvious is that there is a state of anarchy in Nigeria at the moment.
We are witnessing a democracy with a clinical execution of a brutal dictatorship style that brooks no opposition or dissenting opinions. We are seeing a democracy that is bent on making an orderly change impossible.
The most plausible explanation for the horrible dimension that the on-going political killings in Nigeria has assumed is as analysts have argued, the desperation of present political office holders to hang on to power. These desperados see any credible alternative to their woeful performance as a threat which must be ruthlessly crushed.
Unfortunately, the killing spree will continue. It will continue more so, when past perpetrators are never caught or made to pay for their crimes. I am no less amazed when I hear people out there castigating the police for their inability to apprehend the prowling murderers. Yet, the truth is that if those who are sponsoring the killings are the people in power the police automatically become hamstrung in the matter. You will continue to hear of investigations and leads and all those stories, but at the end of the day nothing will come out of it.
Someone who alleged he recently escaped the assassins� bullets, the national Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Chief Chekwas Okorie gave a clue this way: � I know the P.D.P is a desperate party. They have misruled this country for the past four years and the easiest decision a Nigerian electorate will make is not to cast his vote for a party that has impoverished him and made him wretched on earth. And they know in any free and fair election , they will lose deposit. When they do all these evils, they will come out and start denying and keep calling on their police to investigate, an investigation that will never come to anything. So, I have no reason whatsoever not to suspect P.D.P of being culpable�( Vanguard, March 3,2003) .
Whatever, is being speculated, what is clear about the murder of Dr. Marshal Sokari Harry at his Abuja residence in the wee hours of Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2003, is that it was ominous. From the various press accounts of the chain of events leading to his eventual elimination it was obvious the late politician was a marked man. And he was under no illusion concerning the hazardous nature of his undertaking and the viciousness of his pursuers. In some ways this murder drew similarities with the murder vie a parcel bomb ,of the founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa, October 19,1986 and the murder by hanging, of the late MOSOP President Ken Saro Wiwa on November 10,1995.
In all these instances, the victims saw their demise coming and they had no doubts who their murderers were. Dele Giwa a few days to his murder had sent an SOS to his Lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, alerting him of the grave and malicious accusation of gun running laid against him by the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida. The late Dele Giwa understood the pattern of military dictatorship of the time when it is out to eliminate a perceived opponent. Give the dog a bad name and then it would be convenient to hang it. And maybe, by divine inspiration the late Dele Giwa curiously said of the lethal parcel that a few seconds later exploded to mutilate his body and snuffed life out of him: � This must be from the C-in-C�. And to this day the compass of suspicion of that murder continue to point to the direction of that �C �in-C�, General Ibrahim Babangida.
The late Ken Saro Wiwa had before his hanging urged his children to preserve his memory as a man of peace and fighter for justice should anything happen to him in the hands of Shell, Komo ( Lt.Col., then military administrator of Rivers State) and the Nigerian government. On a visit to him at his Bori Camp military detention cell shortly before his execution Ken had told this writer in the company of a colleague that he knew his brave efforts in mobilizing the Ogoni people to stop Shell operation in the area would come with a price. He however, said at 54 he was not too young to die.
Similarly in an interview carried by the Vanguard newspaper of March 9,2003, captioned MY BLOOD IS ON THEIR HEAD, the late Dr. Marshal Harry was quoted as saying : � they are after me, they want to kill me because of my opposition to their rulership of Nigeria and marginalization of my people. I am not afraid of death. How can I be afraid of those who can harm only my flesh and not my spirit. The spirits of my people are angry at their marginalization by the P.D.P government of President Obasanjo and I am going to fight them till I die . Even if they kill me my blood will be on their heads�.
Now, whoever is looking for leads to investigate the assassination of Dr. Marshal Harry may wish to consider the following clues :It is a well known fact that the late Dr. Harry was a strong political force to contend with in the South-South geo-political zone. It is also an open secret that the ruling P.D.P both at the state and federal levels considered him a real threat to their inordinate ambition to hang on to power against overwhelming popular yearning for a change. And the late Dr. Marshal Harry made no bone about his determination for a change in leadership both in Rivers State and at the center. He did not only come out to condemn the reign of terror and endemic corruption that have been the hallmark of the ruling P.D.P. He took practical steps to effect the much desired change.
And he had the wherewithal to prosecute his pet project of stopping the ruling party at all levels. The ANPP Presidential flag bearer General Muhammadu Buhari recently revealed that the late Dr. Harry had already committed over N20 million of his personal money into his campaigns. It is also on record that Dr. Harry also doled N7.5million to pay for Port Harcourt Liberation Stadium , venue of the ANPP campaign rally, as demanded by the Rivers State Government. The running battle between the Rivers State Governor Dr. Peter Odili and the late Dr. Harry was no secret.
An insight into how the ruling P.D.P took the late Dr. Marshal Harry�s �threat� to its sit tight ambition seriously is revealed in Vanguard publication of Sunday July 14,2002, Captioned: ANTI-RE-ELECTION MOVE : OBASANJO FIGHTS BACK WITH 15 COUNTER STRATEGIES. The story reads inter alia : � President Olusegun Obasanjo overwhelmed by the opposition�s offensive and likely candidacy of former military president, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, his predecessor , Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Umar Ghali Na� Abba in 2003 presidential election, is fighting back. He has therefore, put in place a machinery to check what he considers � major threats� to his re-election bid. Steps are also being taken by government to curtail the anti-Obasanjo sentiment from the southern part of the country by CHECKMATING AMONG OTHERS, GOVERNOR ORJI UZOR KALU OF ABIA STATE , DR. MARSHALL HARRY OF THE ALL NIGERIA PEOPLES PARTY(ANPP) AND THE DR. SAMUEL OGBEMUDIA GROUP�.(emphasis, mine).
And the clincher: � There were indications weekend that the Presidency may not spare any opposition in the build-up to the crucial 2003 presidential elections against the backdrop of reports that the opposition elements have also perfected strategy to fight dirty in order to ease out Obasanjo�.
It is instructive to note that of the three politicians marked for �checkmating� in the south, Governor Orji Kalu has since abandoned his Igbo presidency project , declaring it dead and pledging his unflinching support for President Obasanjo�s re-election bid. Dr. Ogbemudia has also fallen in line. This leaves us with the �stubborn� and irrepressible Marshal Harry who until his last moment on earth has seen the struggle to ease out both Governor Peter Odili and President Obasanjo from power as his life, has not relented, as the remaining �threat�. And those of us who are familiar with the primitive bend or break option of dealing with the opposition by the Nigerian ruling cabal could always predict correctly the fate that awaited the likes of the late Dr. Marshal Harry.
Yet, even before the terror dragnet spread to other parts of the country, Rivers State has since held on to its reputation of �Rivers of blood�. In a publication which appeared in Tell magazine of February 11,2002, Comrade Patrick Naagbanton, a Senior correspondent with the Beacon newspaper reeled out a long list of victims of assassinations and assassination attempts in Rivers State.
Comrade Naagbanton listed among others the assassination of Hon. Monday Ndor of the ANPP, representing Khana Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, on August 19,2001 in his Port Harcourt residence. It is instructive to note that Hon. Ndor a strong member of the opposition in the state was gun down at a time he was slated to take over the minority leadership position from the incumbent who to his party�s chargrin, has abandoned them to hobnob with Governor Odili. According to the publication , Hon. George Tolofari another member of the Rivers State House of Assembly ,though of the ruling P.D.P , a well known critic of Governor Odili , also escaped assassination attempt on his life within the period the late Hon. Monday Ndor was murdered. To show that the assassins meant business, they reportedly gun down Hon. Tolofari�s father, in his place.
Mention was also made of the assassination attempt on the life of Hon. Mina Tende, the Chairman of Ogu/Bolo Local government Area, another critic of Gov. Odili who had openly accused the latter of deliberately sponsoring violence in his council area.
Also on the list of lucky escapees of assassination attempts in Rivers State is Chief Bekinbo Soberekon, who has been engaged in a press war with the Rivers State government . One Chief Jene Braide a community leader in Kalabari kingdom and another critic of Governor Odili is also said to have escaped assassination attempt. And of course, the later Dr. Marshal Harry before he was finally got, also had his lucky days from the rampaging assassins in Rivers State. One can not help agree with Comrade Naagbanton when he said: �the litany ( of assassination attempts in Rivers) is listless� .
In an interview with ThisDay ( ThisDay, March 8,2003) Chief Alabo Graham-Douglas, the grand patron of the Rivers Democratic Movement, a coalition of opposition politicians in the state, corroborated this �listless� targets of elimination in Rivers State when he alleged that there is a hit list containing 18 names of opposition leaders. He further alleged that his name is number one on the hit list while that of the late Marshal Harry is number two.
Yet, the reactions by government functionaries in Rivers State to these grave allegations do little to turn the compass of suspicion from its direction. One Glory Emeh, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Peter Odili on Media and Publicity submitted that : � the governor is a very good Christian and will not ever support the killing of any body , not even a child�. Also the other time while defending his boss over the allegation by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Chibedum Nwuche of threats to his life by the Rivers State Governor, the Chief Press Secretary to Odili Mr. Augustine Nwikinaka equally flaunted the Christian card, claiming that as a knight of the Catholic Church Governor Peter Odili could spill no blood. It does not matter that those government spokesmen are addressing people in the Third world , they can do more not to expose their own naivety as if they are speaking from the tenth world. Are these overpriced government officials telling the enlightened world of this jet age that it is only Muslims or is it pagans, that kill?. Come to think of it, who does not know that in that part of the world it is those who openly profess to be Christians that commit far more atrocities � from theft of public money to more heinous crimes like murder?.
But Mr. Glory Emeh Odili�s spokesman dismisses the allegations of threats to the lives of the opposition in Rivers State as �mere alarms as nobody is after their lives�. Yet, this officer of government is saying all these rubbish after a prominent opposition leader Dr. Marshall Harry, who is one of those who have been raising those � false alarms� has been murdered.
I again begin to think that the person speaking must be a security officer who should be able to determine when an alarm raised over threats to one�s life is frivolous and when it is real. Hey! one more point: this government spokesman who had assured that no body was after the lives of the opposition, including that of the late Marshal Harry, must have something to tell the police who are now assaulting our intelligence by asking us for clues into a murder they already know of the source. And this brings us to the provocative offer of N15million and N10million by the Rivers State government and federal government respectively, for information on the killers of Dr. Harry If these frivolous offers were designed to divert our attention from the real suspects, they are mistaken.
Talking about police investigation into the political killings and failed assassination attempts in Nigeria which have assumed an endemic proportion, I am one of those who do not believe in those cover-ups called police investigations. The hard truth is that the so-called investigations will produce nothing at the end of the day. If those who are behind the killings and intimidation of the opposition belong to the government in power who expects the police to come out to tell the world they have found them , let alone committing them to trial. The issue is that in that part of the world the police and other security operatives function at the behest of the government in power. It therefore follows that should the government or any member of the establishment falls foul of the law the law enforcement agencies become helpless as the former are deemed to be above the law.
When Dele Giwa was parcel- bombed in 1986, virtually everybody in the country knew the General Ibrahim Babangida military dictatorship was responsible for that gruesome murder. The Nigerian police carried out its � investigations�. But up till today the police has not been able to tell us who killed Dele Giwa. However, nemesis seemed to have caught up with Ibrahim Babangida as he came out to confirm our suspicion by going to court to stop the Oputa panel from re-opening that celebrated murder case.
At any rate it is settled that the ruling P.D.P government of Peter Odili in Rivers State was determined to abort the ANPP campaign rally in Port Harcourt. It did everything within its powers to frustrate the late Dr . Marshal Harry led organization committee. An outrageous N7.5million was demanded from the ANNP to allow it use the Port Harcourt Liberation stadium for the event. This is when the ruling P. D.P was asked to pay only N800,000.00 to hold is campaign rally at the same venue, a couple of weeks before. However, the late Dr. Harry was equally determined to see the ANPP campaign rally hold in Port Harcourt. He dished hand in his pocket and paid the N7.5 million demanded. So nothing could be done to break the resolve of the late strong man of South-South politics . The only solution as reasoned by his opponents was to �take him out�.
The current trend of thugs attack on the oppositions campaign trains again sends a signal- that some scary people do not want the opposition to even campaign. The other day a chieftain of the ruling P.D.P on a campaign tour of one of the South-western states had boasted that his party is working hard, criss - crossing the length and breadth of the country with its campaign while as he noted that others are not campaigning. He then charged that when his party wins in the coming elections those who were not campaigning would then accuse them of rigging . So could the on-going attacks on others campaign trains a ploy to intimidate them to stay at home and stop campaigning so it would be convenient to say how could they have won when they did not campaign?
What is happening in Nigeria today is an Idi Amin cum Saddam Hussein like onslaught on the opposition by a desperate and dangerous cabal bent on hanging on to power at all cost.
That Nigeria is unsafe today for both citizens and visitors alike is an understatement. The country is simply becoming uninhabitable. But when the world�s most dangerous country tag is added to the world�s second most corrupt country stigma Nigeria would truly become a pariah state which no one would be proud to associate with.
This nightmarish Obasanjo led P.D.P �civilian� dictatorship has no moral right to ask Nigerians for four more years of hostage. But in that part of the world the ruling cabal has no business with morality. They continue to talk of continuity in the midst of the mess of a tragic administration and a failed state. The late Dr. Harry had noted : � It touches my heart to hear an incapable government asking for continuity� Continuity of what? Continuity to witch- hunt perceived opponents or continuity of insecurity?�
The second paragraph of the American Declaration of Independence states as follows: � We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ,- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends , it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it , and to institute new Government , laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and Happiness�.
It now clear to everybody that the present government in Nigeria neither guarantees the safety of the people nor effect their happiness. In fact, the government has become destructive of these ends. The Nigerian people must therefore abolish the Obasanjo government by voting it out on April 19, and making sure that their wish is respected by resisting any attempts to rig the elections. Perhaps what is needed now to save Nigeria from the organized banditry that is going on is the peoples power. It happened in the Philipines. It happened in Chile. It can also be done in Nigeria.