Chris McGreal
It is a surprisingly well-kept secret for Nigeria. Only a few army officers know for certain what is in the country’s new Constitution. Once passed into law, it will, in theory, end 15 years of rule by military decree.
Even Nigeria’s president-elect, Olusegun Obasanjo, who takes office this month, has not been told officially the extent of the powers he will wield. He does not know how long he has in office or whether he can run again – provided there are no coups.
Nigeria’s military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, signed the Constitution last week. His compatriots applauded as much out of relief that the country might finally be governed by something other than a general’s whims. “This is a fine document, and I am sure it will meet the yearnings and aspirations of all Nigerians,” said Abubakar.
They will have to wait to find out if it does. Nigeria has had many constitutions that have been ignored during long bouts of military rule. The last, written in 1995, was not put into force because it was so skewed in favour of a centralised army administration even the military did not think it could get away with it.
Abubakar said the new document was based on the last functional Constitution, written in 1979, the only other time the military handed over power to an elected government. That law allowed the president to serve two four-year terms, but the army got tired of him after the first and seized control again.
The secrecy in which the latest Constitution was written has some civil rights groups wondering what Abubakar is trying to hide.
Human rights activists have accused the army of planning to insert clauses limiting the future government’s authority over the armed forces or giving the military a free hand in controlling its budget. Some Nigerians suggest the army has written in an amnesty provision preventing soldiers being prosecuted for their many crimes over the years.
The government is hunting down millions of dollars stolen by the late military dictator, Sani Abacha, who died in mysterious circumstances last year after five years of harsh rule. But no one is pursuing the vast amounts stolen by Abacha’s predecessor, Ibrahim Babangida, or the soldiers and civilians who got rich serving him.
The Civil Liberties Organisation chided the government for keeping the constitutional arrangements a secret from the Nigerian people in whose name it purported to act. But the organisation noted that anything had to be better than rule by decree.
One of the few hints that Nigerians have been offered by Abubakar is a promise that the Constitution will satisfy the popular yearning for greater federalism, in part to diminish the central authority so abused by the army.
The Information Ministry said the Constitution would be made public before it took effect.