The Pope made similar appeals on behalf of political prisoners when he visited President Fidel Castro in Cuba recently. "The Nigerian government also holds a large number of political prisoners, and we hope to appeal for their release," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Africa at Human Rights Watch. "Conditions in Nigerian prisons can be life-threatening, and, given the intransigence of the Nigerian government, the pope's visit may be the last chance some of them have to come out alive."
Previous international visitors to Nigeria from bodies such as the United States, the Commonwealth, or the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, have had difficulties obtaining permission from the Nigerian government to gain access to detainees. Moreover, although the Nigerian government has promised the U.N. and others to review the cases of those held without charge, no one has in fact been released. Recent months have seen a spate of fresh detentions of journalist, human rights activists, and even military officers alleged to have been involved in a coup attempt.
Human Rights Watch also urged the pope to raise concerns about the transition program by which the military is supposedly returning Nigeria to elected civilian rule, including military control of the electoral commission and restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly.
A copy of the letter to the pope and a summary of current human rights abuses in Nigeria is attached. Copies of the list of detainees prepared by Human Rights Watch, of a summary of our current concerns about human rights violations in Nigeria, and of our October 1997 report Transition or Travesty? Nigeria's Endless Process of Return to Civilian Rule, can be obtained from the contacts listed above.
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
March 13, 1998
Your Holiness:
I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based human rights organization
monitoring states' compliance with international standards of human rights, in order to bring to
your attention some of our concerns at the situation of human rights in Nigeria, as you prepare to
make your visit to that country. We hope you will use your good offices to take up some of
these fundamental issues with the military government in Nigeria during your visit.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the appeals you made to President Fidel Castro during your recent visit to Cuba, in which you asked him to release political prisoners and other prisoners on humanitarian grounds, and stressed the importance of freedom of expression and association. We note with appreciation that President Castro has in fact released some 300 prisoners following your visit. The Nigerian government also holds a large number of political prisoners, and we hope that you will take the opportunity of your visit to Nigeria to appeal for their release. An incomplete list of those currently in custody for political reasons, whether held without trial or charged (or convicted by unfair processes) for politically motivated offenses, is attached to this letter. The list undoubtedly omits the names of many people who are held for political reasons, since information is difficult to obtain especially for those held outside Lagos; and the details of some of those on the list may be incorrect, for similar reasons. We respectfully request you to raise the cases of all the detainees mentioned, inquire as to their current welfare, urge proper medical attention to be given where necessary, request permission to visit the longest-standing prisoners or those whose health is worst, and appeal for their release.
The fact that the conditions of detention in Nigeria are life-threatening was highlighted by the death of the former deputy head of state Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua on December 8, 1997. Yar'Adua was convicted in 1995, with about forty others, of involvement in an alleged coup plot, following a trial before a military tribunal which blatantly failed to meet international standards of due process. He was held in Abakaliki prison, where he had been intermittently taken ill for about one year before his death. On December 16, 1997, it was announced that six prisoners had died from typhoid fever in Uyo prison, Akwa Ibom State, including Patrick Usikekpo, also convicted of involvement in the 1995 coup.
Other alleged coup plotters from the 1995 trial who have recently been reported to have spent time in hospital include former head of state Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, pro-democracy activists Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Mallam Shehu Sani, and former head of army legal services Colonel Bello Fadile. The health of Beko Ransome-Kuti and Shehu Sani is particularly at risk. There are also health concerns for the four journalists convicted in the trial (Chris Anyanwu, George Mbah, Ben Charles Obi and Kunle Ajibade), and for other high profile detainees, including Chief M.K.O. Abiola and union leaders Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a lawyer from the chambers of Gani Fawehinmi currently detained without charge, is reportedly very sick.
In addition, we are deeply disturbed about the general human rights situation in Nigeria, which has continued to deteriorate. We also enclose with this letter a summary of some of our current concerns about the human rights situation in Nigeria, as well as a copy of our recent report, Transition or Travesty? Nigeria's Endless Process of Return to Civilian Rule. Among the many serious human rights abuses committed by the Nigerian government against its people, the central issue is the denial of their right to choose their own government. The current "transition program" supposedly designed to restore Nigeria to elected civilian government on October 1, 1998, is wholly fraudulent. All those who criticize the program or the government are potentially subject to harassment including arbitrary and prolonged detention or even summary or arbitrary execution. The Nigerian government undermines the rule of law through the use of special tribunals, clauses excluding the courts from inquiring into the legality of executive acts, and disobedience to court orders.
We urge you to use your good offices to call on the military government in Nigeria to respect international standards relating to free political activity. In particular, the Nigerian government should appoint a genuinely independent electoral commission to implement an open and fair process of registration of political parties and screening of candidates, and should allow freedom in practice for political parties to organize, hold meetings, campaign and canvass support from voters, as well as for journalists and others to comment on the political process. The government should repeal all decrees and laws suspending the constitutional protection of fundament human rights, allowing indefinite detention without charge, preventing the courts from considering the legality of executive acts, or criminalizing peaceful criticism of the transition program or of the government.
Respectfully,
/s/
Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch March 13, 1998
1. Violations of the right to vote and participate in public affairs
Nigeria has been ruled by military governments for all but ten years of its post-independence history.
The current ruler, Gen Sani Abacha, took power in a coup in 1993, after the annulment of elections
designed to return Nigeria to civilian government. The presumed winner of those elections, M.K.O.
Abiola, has been in detention charged with treasonable felony since 1994, after he declared himself
president on the anniversary of the elections. A fresh transition program announced in October 1995 is
underway, but elections for local and state governments have not been free or fair. All the indications
are that General Abacha himself will stand for election in presidential elections due in August, and thus
ensure that the military remains in power if not technically in office.
The principal problems with the transition program include the following. There is no independent electoral commission. Only five political parties have been registered, none of them with a political program, all of them close to the military government. Four of the five have announced that Abacha is their preferred "consensus candidate." Candidates in local and state-level elections have been screened and disqualified on spurious security grounds. The draft 1995 constitution, intended to come into effect at the completion of the program in October 1998, has not been promulgated or even published.
Meetings of pro-democracy and human rights groups, as well as other gatherings of people seen to be critical of the government, are frequently disrupted. For example, in September 1997, security officers broke up the farewell party organized by the human rights community for outgoing U.S. ambassador, Walter Carrington.. Journalists critical of the government are subjected to harassment and detention, while the laws governing the transition program make criticism of the program itself a crime.
2. Arbitrary detention and harassment of the opposition
Since October 1997, the number of detentions, especially of journalists and human rights activists, has
increased alarmingly. The State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No.2 of 1984 permits indefinite
detention without trial. Blatantly political charges of treason, sedition, or other offenses, including
charges of corruption, are also used to silence critics. Among those recently arrested are Ogaga Ifowodo
of the Civil Liberties Organisation; Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a lawyer from the chambers of well-known
human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi; Onome Osifo-Whiskey, the managing editor of the outspoken
Tell magazine, and Batom Mitee, the brother of Ledum Mitee, exiled acting president of the Movement
for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and co-defendant with Ken Saro-Wiwa.
The situation in Ogoniland is particularly serious, and suspected members or leaders in MOSOP are regularly detained. Security forces arrested and detained several dozen people in Ogoni in November and December 1997. An unknown number remain in detention. MOSOP reports that two people were recently killed by security forces: Beatrice Nwakpasi, shot dead by soldiers who opened fire on a crowd of dancing people celebrating Ogoni Day on January 4; and Daniel Naador, detained in connection with the January 4 celebrations and beaten so severely that he died in custody two weeks later.
An alleged coup plot on December 21, 1997 has given the authorities a pretext to detain several dozen army officers and civilians, and charge a number of them with treason. Among them is Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, previously deputy head of state, who is rumored to have urged General Abacha not to stand as a candidate for the presidency in the forthcoming elections. In November 1997, Gen. Sani Abacha made one of his periodic announcements that a review of detainees would be undertaken and that the government would grant amnesty "to those detained persons whose release would constitute no further impediment to the peace and security of our country." Despite some further official references to the review of cases and the release of detainees, there is no evidence that a review panel has in fact been set up. Most worrisomely, the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, has denied in the last few days that General Abacha has made any promise to review the cases of political detainees.
In addition to detention, critics of the government are subjected to general harassment by the security forces, especially the State Security Service (SSS). This harassment is generally more severe outside Lagos, where opponents of the government are more exposed, but Lagos-based human rights lawyers, journalists, pro-democracy activists or opposition members are also subject to regular SSS attention. The government also regularly confiscates the passports of those it would rather did not travel overseas to speak about Nigeria.
3. Conditions of detention
Conditions of detention in Nigeria are generally life-threatening. If a detainee (political or criminal) does
not have access to visitors who can bring food, clothes and other assistance (such as medicines) on his or
her behalf, any prolonged period of detention is likely to result in severe damage to health, and possibly
death. Only about =N=30 (U.S. 35�) per day is allocated per prisoner for food. Overcrowding is serious,
with many prisons holding several hundred percent more prisoners than their nominal capacity . In
addition, health care and medical facilities are grossly inadequate; approximately 4,000 prisoners die in
custody a year, or 7 percent of the prison population of approximately 50,000.
4. Extrajudicial executions
Several cases of shootings of people apparently for political reasons have taken place since late 1995. A
partial list:
� On February 26, 1998, armed men broke into the home of Tunde Oladepo, a journalist with The
Guardian (Lagos) based in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and shot him dead in front of his family. Oladepo had
recently written a story criticizing traditional rulers, including the chief of the local area, for endorsing
the candidacy of General Abacha for president.
� On December 13, 1997 a bomb explosion at Lagos airport apparently aimed at Lieutenant General
Oladipo Diya killed one person. The bomb was timed to explode during the delayed flight that Diya was
to take. Diya himself was detained ten days later on allegations of involvement in a coup plot.
� On January 14, 1997, gunmen shot at Senator Abraham Adesanya the Deputy chairman of Nigeria
opposition movement NADECO. The glass of his car was shattered though he suffered minor injuries.
� On June 4, 1996, Kudirat Abiola, wife of imprisoned president-elect Moshood K.O. Abiola was shot
dead by a group of unidentified men as she was traveling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on her way
to see the Canadian High Commissioner.
It is assumed by most Nigerians that these assassinations or assassination attempts were carried out on behalf of the Nigerian military government. No credible progress has been made in the investigations into the killings.
5. Death Penalty
In January 1997, it was reported by the Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State that 293 condemned
prisoners were awaiting execution in the state. Large numbers of people are on death row in other states,
though statistics are difficult to obtain. Many of those sentenced to death have been convicted by armed robbery
tribunals, which do not respect international standards of due process. The tribunal members are directly
appointed by the military authorities and are therefore not independent of government control. The judge
who presides over the tribunal must hand down the death penalty if he or she convicts an individual of
armed robbery (whether or not weapons were actually fired during a robbery), and, while the military
administrator of each state must confirm each death sentence, there is no appeal to a higher tribunal or
court in which the legal issues may be re-examined. Execution is by firing squad, usually public.
6. Undermining courts and the rule of law
It is the uniform opinion of Nigerian human rights activists that the quality of judicial appointments has
deteriorated under the current government, and that the level of executive interference in court decisions
has increased.
The court system in Nigeria is seriously starved of funds. Judges, magistrates and other court officers, including prosecutors (and police, who often act as prosecutors), are very poorly paid. Court facilities are hopelessly overcrowded, badly equipped and underfunded. Court libraries are inadequate, and judges may even have to supply their own paper and pens to record their judgments in long hand. There are long delays in bringing both criminal and civil cases to court. This financial crisis encourages the acceptance of bribes by judicial officers.
The regular court system in Nigeria has been seriously undermined by the creation of special tribunals, both to hear politically sensitive cases and to bypass the delays of the court system in the trial of high profile crimes. Most notorious of these tribunals are those created under the Civil Disturbances (Special Tribunal) Decree No.2 of 1987. One such tribunal tried the internationally-known human rights figure Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other eight Ogoni activists executed on November 10, 1995. Military decrees frequently include "ouster clauses," which prevent the regular courts from inquiring into the exercise of powers given by the decree. The Nigerian government regularly disregards the court orders made against it anyway. In almost all cases of detention of high-profile political or human rights activists, court orders have been obtained allowing members of the family or private doctors to see the detainee, or declaring that the detainee should be produced in court. The government routinely refuses to respect these directives.