Nigeria
Guinness Ohazuruike
The first day of October marked 37 years since Nigeria gained independence from Britain. Of this, the military has been in power for a cumulative period of 28 years. And at present Nigeria is still suffering under the burden of military dictatorship which annulled the June 12 1993 presidential election, reputed to be a watershed, the most free and fair the country has ever had.
With the continued incarceration without trial of Chief Moshood Abiola who won that election and declared himself president, Nigeria has been groping in the dark under the burden of international isolation that has virtually reduced this once admired nation to a pariah state.
From the rich giant of Africa to a crippled penurious rascal, Nigeria has become a laughing stock in diplomatic circles, and this will continue unless convincing democratic changes take place. The annual summit of heads of state of Commonwealth nations is to be held in Edinburgh later this month.
Nigeria was expelled from this body in November 1995 in the wake of the assassination of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists. The Nigerian question will once more top the agenda at the forthcoming summit. It will be most interesting to the watchful public what course of action the body will chart in dealing with this hydra-headed problem. For, in all honesty, theres nothing to suggest that the military cabal which continues to desecrate the Nigerian polity has done anything positive to pacify the outrage garnered at the last summit.
To make matters worse, the much-touted but discredited democratisation programme hastily put in place by Nigerias machiavellian dictator Sani Abacha, suffered yet another gross abuse when Abacha recently announced that the remaining set of elections, nay selections, have been indefinitely postponed to next year for no clear reason.
Thus done, those who had hitherto invested any atom of belief or suspended disbelief in Abachas Military-Assisted-Democracy or Mutual-Assured-Destruction, must now hide in shame for, as much as they are willing to give MAD a benefit of doubt, so much is Abacha determined to disappoint them. The doubting Thomases are once more vindicated. Abacha is damn determined to succeed himself or make room for another set of miscreants in national costume.
There is an ongoing campaign for Abacha to transform himself into a civilian president. And to realise this ambition Abacha is tinkering with the idea of being the sole presidential nominee of his five puppet political parties, so that the election itself becomes either a formality or in essence dispensed with entirely.
Who has ever heard of one candidate representing five political parties whose interests and policies should otherwise compete? This shows how desperate the apostles of military rule have become.
This, in essence, makes the next summit a critical test for all friends of Nigeria, especially the new labour government in Downing Street, and South Africa. Whatever approach the summit takes will ultimately demonstrate to the people of Nigeria and the wider world what assistance to expect in their struggle.
To be brutally honest about it, the situation in Nigeria is closely competing with the apartheid regime in terror and inhuman treatment. At this juncture, therefore, no one is in doubt that the mild punitive measures adopted at the last summit have proved ineffective, and the situation calls for something more drastic.
It is the general view and wish of well- meaning Nigerians that nothing short of outright expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth will suffice this time round. This should be coupled with a series of sanctions, especially the freezing of foreign bank accounts of military officers. Further measures like international embargoes on Nigerian oil should also be considered.
Let no one be surprised if, in their usual bizarre style, the junta voluntarily withdraws Nigeria from the Commonwealth to avoid the humiliation of expulsion. Addressing members of Vision 2010, a committee set up to advise the regime on foreign policy and matters of national interest, Nigerian foreign minister Chief Tom Ikimi said: You will have to convince me why we should remain in the Commonwealth. Nor should one rule out astute diplomatic manoeuvring to hoodwink the summit. The summit must be wary of government-sponsored demonstrations, soon to blossom across the major cities of Nigeria, urging the summit to show understanding or perhaps relax the suspension.
Nigeria is seriously degenerating into another shame of Africa, and it behoves the Commonwealth and the entire world to halt this drift and rescue this vast nation.
Among the leading participants in this summit, President Nelson Mandela should see himself as the ambassador of all Nigerians, representing their hopes and aspirations. It is already too late for Mandela to recuse himself from the exalted position of Africas number one hero, but his struggles cannot be said to have finished or succeeded if by any stroke of imagination 100-million Africans in Nigeria remain in bondage.
He should be the leading voice insisting on urgent democratic change in Nigeria, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners including free passage for all exiles to return as a prelude to negotiations.
In spite of the now warming relationship between Pretoria and Abuja, Nigerians still look up to Mandela for freedom and smiles, and the Commonwealth summit is the best forum to commence the much-needed diplomatic onslaught on military dictatorship in Nigeria.