Corruption, political violence, “godfather” politics and general impunity threaten the stability of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and the world’s sixth-largest oil producer, a 100-page report released recently by the international NGO Human Rights Watch warns.
The report, Criminal Politics, provides detailed accounts of the widespread use of hired thugs in political campaigns, the prevalence of behind-the-scenes political sponsors who control national and state-level politics and rampant impunity for crimes committed by powerful members of government, the military and the business world.
The report also condemns the slow pace of transformation since the end of military rule in 1999. “Eight years after Nigeria’s return to civilian government, rampant official corruption and human rights abuse can no longer be dismissed as the lingering after-effects of military rule. It cannot be argued that the problems will be inevitably ironed out in the course of some slow transition towards more democratic governance … No real effort has yet been made to hold politicians accountable for their open mobilisation of violence and corruption to secure political power,” the report says.
Political violence has become an accepted way of winning elections and maintaining power, with politicians from parties all over the country buying the support and services of armed gangs, cults and disenfranchised youths in their bid for office.
The phenomenon was particularly acute in the 2007 elections, causing the deaths of at least 300 people and discouraging hundreds of thousands from going out to vote.
According to the report, a number of Nigeria’s states continue to be plagued by violence even now, after the election period is over, as politicians lose control of or abandon the groups they sponsored. This is the case in the highly volatile Niger Delta region, where armed groups sponsored by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2003 elections play a major role in the ongoing violence and human rights abuses.
In addition to voters’ being discouraged from voting and disenfranchised by widespread electoral fraud, the existence of powerful political sponsors — known as “godfathers” — to whom candidates remain beholden once elected further reduces public officials’ accountability to the populations they govern.
In a case study on Anambra State, the report includes a copy of an actual contractual agreement between a political sponsor and his chosen political candidate in which the latter swears absolute loyalty to his patron and essentially cedes governance to him.
“I Dr Chris Ngige shall at all times during my tenure as the governor of Anambra State exercise and manifest absolute loyalty to the person of Chief Chris Uba … as my mentor benefactor and sponsor … [and] shall … consult and seek the consent, understanding and support of Chief Chris Uba in all my actions and activities as governor of Anambra State,” the contract, signed by both men, states.
In a separate agreement, also signed by the two men, Ngige agrees to let Uba control the Anambra State government. “The governor elect must ensure he clear in advance all policy [sic] routine administration issues, including all contracts, appointments and decisions with … Chief Chris Uba before implementation.”
The contract concludes with the clause that in the event of Ngige’s non-compliance, the “leader/financier may avenge himself in the way and manner adjudged by him as fitting and adequate, including demanding the immediate resignation from office of governor”.
Ngige fell out with Uba not long after his election in 2003 and was kidnapped and forced to sign a letter of resignation. His subsequent fight to stay in power led to violent clashes in which an estimated 24 people were killed.
The report recommends that the Nigerian government embark on urgent widespread reform, including establishing an inquiry by an independent body into corruption and vote-rigging in the 2007 elections, enacting legislation compelling government institutions to publish data on expenditure and requiring all elected officials to publish annual declarations of the value of their personal assets. It also recommends that the Nigerian police initiate investigations into past incidents of political violence and other politically linked crimes.