PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Abuja | Monday
THE Nigerian equivalent of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission this week launches 12 weeks of public hearings probing human rights abuses in Nigeria dating back to the first military coup in 1966.
The commission, which was set up last year, has received over 10000 complaints of rights violations. Around 200 of the “most grievous” cases, covering assassinations, unjust arrests and gross violations, will be aired in 12 weeks of hearings in five cities over five months.
Among the cases to be covered are the ‘pogrom’ of ethnic Igbos in northern Nigeria ahead of the 1967-70 civil war, the 1986 parcel bomb assassination of journalist Dele Giwa and the 1995 execution of minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
The jailing in 1995 of the current president, Olesegun Obasanjo, and his former deputy Shehu Musa Yar’Adua are also expected to be aired, commission officials said.
After almost three decades of military rule since its first military coup in 1966, Nigeria returned to civilian rule last year under Obasanjo who ordered the creation of the commission.
The hearings – just part of the commission’s work, according to officials – will run in Abuja for two weeks followed by a four-week hearing in Lagos and then two week hearings in the cities of Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano, ending in March.
The commission has the power to subpoena witnesses and will issue findings, but will not have power to prosecute or amnesty rights abusers.
“The commission was not set up to judge – that is the function of the court of law – but rather to clarify the history of the events of 30 years of crisis,” commission chairman Justice Chukwudifu Oputa said last week.
The public hearings would be “giving Nigerians the opportunity to unravel their past, discuss it, embark on genuine reconciliation and move ahead as a cohesive nation,” he said.
The commission, which has both government backing and support from international human rights monitors, is the first serious public attempt in Nigeria to probe abuses going back many years. – AFP