Nigerian state of emergency a bad precendent

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Retired General Olushegun Obasanjo, has declared a state of emergency in Plateau State, one of Nigeria's 36 states. The Governor of the state and the parliament have been suspended from office and replaced by an Army General. Plateau, in the middle Belt region of the country, has been the centre of sectarian massacres between different ethnic and religious communities since 2001. The North Western state of Kano, Nigeria's second commercial city, has also seen ethnic and religious massacres recently, allegedly as a 'revenge' for the killings in Jos. Both states are not alone in the spate of killings that has gripped Nigeria in the past few years.

As to be expected the State of Emergency measure has been criticized by many people. Human rights groups decry it as a descent into dictatorship and a threat to the already faltering democratisation in the country. Some critics including the Christian Association of Nigeria have criticized it as discriminatory against Christians who are the majority in the state while a similar measure was not directed at Kano state where the majority of the population is Muslim. Still others see a majority and minority dimension in it. Plateau state is not one of the core states of the tripodal majority groups (Hausa -Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo) in the country therefore the president, himself part of the majority, feels he can get away with it whereas he dares not introduce similar measures in Kano.

The problem with conspiracy theories is that while it may be easy to be dismissive of them rationally and intellectually, the mix of fact, prejudice and beliefs make for serious political dangers in a very polarized society like Nigeria.

The principle of fairness should have demanded that the President imposes a state of emergency on both Plateau and Kano State. And if for any reason it is not possible in one then that extreme measure should never have been considered for one of the two states for similar crimes. There is no way in which the government can now escape criticisms of both intimidation in one case and timidity in the other.

However I can hazard guesses why the President took the steps he took in Plateau state. One, it is a state controlled by his party, the PDP, therefore he could not be accused of partisanship, whereas Kano state is controlled by the main opposition party, the ANPP.

Two, Plateau is a state with majority Christian population and since he is a Christian, a born again one for that matter, no one will accuse him of being anti-Christian. A third reason and a more personal one must be his anger. The president is known to take things personally and be slow to forgiveness for conduct he considers a personal affront to his leadership.

Therefore, the widely reported altercation he had with religious leaders in Jos when he visited the scene of the massacres during which he called one of them 'idiot' may have contributed to his determination 'to teach them a lesson'. Four, the president may have decided that in going for Plateu, seemingly the weakest link in the chain of shame in the governance of Nigeria, he could teach other states a lesson that enough was enough. Plateu's Governorbseemed to have lost the popular confidence of the people and elite of the state and was recently at the centre of criminal investigations by the British Police over money laundering allegations.

All of these would be the wrong reasons for taking the extraordinary step of suspending all elective institutions. If that happens at the federal level it would amount to a successful coup and an end to civilian rule. A democratic society must find other ways of dealing with threats to national security instead of resorting to the Army. It is a fire brigade approach that does not address the fundamental basis of the conflicts. Those who are saluting the 'courage' of the president, in taking this step, including many who have been his worst critics, would sing different tunes if the state of emergency had been declared in their own states or states controlled by parties they are sympathetic towards. Justice and the rule of law must be blind and should apply to all equally. This state of emergency may not strengthen the rule of law because its politics undermines the process of justice and democracy.

Now that this bad precedent has been set does that mean that the next state where such conflicts take place will also be placed under state of emergency? Lagos , Kaduna, Anabra, Imo and the whole of the Delta region continue to be ravaged by communal violence - does that mean a state of emergency will apply in all of these states now?

There are many sources for the intermittent communal, religious and other sectarian conflicts across the country. An obvious one is the extreme poverty that the majority of the preponderantly youth population live in. It has made available a ready-made army of militias to be deployed at the whim and caprice of any patron. But more importantly the irresponsibility of the government through its security and other law and order agencies to bring perpetrators to justice, respect the rule of law and compensate victims has created a culture of impunity. Because the government is failing in this basic function of protecting all the citizens and residents of the country people are taking the law into their hands and putting their faith in sectarian militias. So instead of declaring a state of emergency the president should stop residing in Aso Rock and start presiding over the peace and security of the country.

The government alone does not and should not carry the blame. The various religious and community leaders must also assume their responsibility of being frank even at the risk of personal safety to ask their followers to stop 'killing in the name of God'. There is no faith whose God wants to be worshipped in the grave yard. The media must also stop justifying unlawful killing of fellow citizens as 'revenge'. ([email protected]; [email protected])

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General Secretary of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala, Uganda and also Director of Justice Africa, based in London.

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