 |
|
Dr.
Chidi Odinkalu
|
The
Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, in this
interview with LEKE
BAIYEWU, says those involved in electoral malpractices will be made public
soon.
You
once said those found culpable in electoral impunity in previous elections
would be named publicly. How many suspects are you investigating?
Our
expert working group is at it at the moment and it is expected to issue an
interim report in about 45 days from now. That report is going to be in the
public domain because I think elections are too important; so important that
every citizen needs to know those things they make their decisions with. My
view remains the same and in this I speak with the voice of the commission that
if the court has struck down an election because of non-compliance with the
rules governing elections, somebody must be held accountable. And where that
has happened and we have judicial records to that effect, we will name those
people (involved) and let Nigerians know and mount pressure on those people not
to participate in elections into positions of trust anymore.
How
many names have you gathered so far?
We
are still working on that. We discovered that most of the cases were reported
and we have found a good number of cases in the archives of the Court of
Appeal. And as I am speaking to you, we have people to get the unreported
cases. I cannot tell you the number of cases at the moment because we want to
get as close to the right numbers as possible.
Critics
of government policies and programmes often argue that the masses do not
benefit from them, even though the people have their socio-economic rights? How
true is this?
I
don’t want to generalise by saying most government policies are not beneficial
to the masses. I’m not sure that will be factually accurate. If somebody goes
to Lagos State and says most policies of the Lagos State Government are not
beneficial to the masses, I don’t know about that. My view is that this is not
about whether or not government projects are beneficial to the masses; it is
about whether or not government projects are in fact delivered. There are a lot
of cases where a government is seen awarding a contract and what happens with
the contract after it has been awarded are not investigated, and people don’t
follow through. A contract is awarded; mobilisation (fee) is paid – which
equivalent could be between 10 to 90 per cent, depending on the terms; and what
happens thereafter?
So,
you have a lot of government projects that are not delivered and would never
happen. From East-West Road to Abuja-Lokoja Road to Olokola (Free Trade) Export
Processing Zone and so on. Some contracts were awarded and re-awarded,
cancelled and then re-awarded and upwardly reviewed. All of those things keep
happening and they give government and governance a bad name because the
projects are not fully realised or delivered. Therefore, the question of what
benefits they have had for the people arise without being investigated. That is
the problem I have there.
Many
people believe the judiciary is hard on petty thieves but has a soft spot
for rich criminals. How well has the judiciary faired in justice dispensation
and assurance of the rule of law?
This
judicial system, in effect, would not produce the kind of security situation we
want because the first line of defence, with respect to public safety and
security, is a judicial system of accountability. Anybody who looks at our
system dispassionately will have difficulties with how we process cases based
on status. It is true that we treat poor people very harshly relative to
rich people. When you look at all the cases of plunder and serious corruption
in our system, invariably, all of them (suspects) are out on bail. Many of them
get their passports back to go overseas for medical treatment. Very few of them
got convicted and those that ever got convicted got it on plea bargain. None of
such cases have gone into full trial. And there are confiscation orders that
are invariably related to limited access.
Cecelia
Ibru (former Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic Bank) got convicted for
stealing close to $2bn and what did she get. She got six months in the most
expensive hospital in Nigeria. Tafa Balogun, a former Inspector-General of
Police, got convicted of stealing close to N20bn what did he get. Six months
imprisonment. Lucky Igbinedion (former Edo State Governor) got convicted for
stealing public money and what happened. He got a slap on the wrist and walked
away, not even with any threats or infractions apart from handing back a
little. One could go on. By contrast, you have a poor man steal a goat or tuber
of yam and he’s taken to court. He is told to plead guilty and gets sentenced
to between 18 months and five years. That system of justice, I cannot, in
conscience, be in support of it. I think there is a great deal of
transformation that needs to take place. I hope the Transformation Agenda (of
President Goodluck Jonathan) reaches the judiciary and the legal system.
What
constitutes the most form of human rights abuse in Nigeria today?
Indignity.
How
and why?
For
me, indignity is the biggest violation in Nigeria. It is the destruction of the
sense of expectation among the population; the fact that we have all been
reduced to beggarliness and that the only person who gets anything in the
country is anybody who says e jowo (Yoruba word for ‘please’) and begs
you. All of us are humanitarians and nobody has any sense of entitlement.
Indignity is so many things: The husband who believes that the only way he can
sustain a relationship is by abusing or beating his wife; the boyfriend who
believes the only way he can get his reward from a girlfriend who says no is by
pouring acid on her.
Indignity is in the community that believes that the only
way an election can be won is through rigging, or the contestant who believes
this as well. It is the civil servant who believes that his office exists only
for giving and taking bribes and extorting people who come to the office. It is
the person who believes that the only way to get anything in law enforcement is
by bribing anybody in the system. It is the judge who believes that he has to
collect bribe to give a judgment.
It is the lawyer who gives or promises bribe
to a judge in order to win a case. It is the student who believes the only way
she can pass examinations is by sleeping with her lecturer, and the lecturer
who believes that the only way he can do his job is by abusing his students
sexually. The list is endless; it is in everything.
In
your article entitled ‘Time to behead the monster of prejudice,’ you said our
laws have criminalised being poor and that prejudice has become profitable in
Nigeria. Who should be blamed, the people or the government?
Leadership
matters; it is important. If politicians are going to take the new route to
power; the new route of setting people against people; of setting faiths
against faiths; of setting ethnic groups against ethnic groups, then it is
difficult to blame the government or the people. Our politicians as a whole
have not taken the high road to power. People are ready to do whatever it takes
and be as grabby as possible for power. And in a country like Nigeria, where we
are struggling to hold diverse sets of communities together — somewhere in the
region of about 389 ethic and language groups — I think we’ve got to expect
more and ask more from our politicians and leaders.
When
I say being poor has been criminalised, it is quite clear that that is the
case. We treat people here, in most parts of Nigeria, as if they are not worth
anything mainly because they don’t have money or because they are not riding
around in a Rolls Royce or a four wheel drive. And if you can rent a police
officer to accompany you as you march along, nobody touches you. They all think
you’re a big man and above the law. If you cannot rent one and you are on the
streets with no roof over your head, woe betide you. And we all forget that the
government exists to lead its people out of hardship. And for everybody it is
for everybody, irrespective of where they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment