Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

Role of Nigeria’s Federal Government
Many activists and ordinary Nigerians with whom Human Rights Watch has spoken
have described the situation in the country since the return to civilian rule in 1999 as
one of betrayal. As described in this report, many of Nigeria’s worst human rights
problems have become deeply entrenched over the past eight years along with the
openly corrupt, abusive and criminal conduct of many government and political party
officials. Government at all levels denies ordinary Nigerians a genuine voice in
selecting their leaders, fails to protect the populace from the violence linked to
power struggles between members of the political elite, and has been selective and
ineffectual in combating the corruption and mismanagement that have led
government to fail in meeting some of its most basic human rights obligations.
During the Obasanjo administration, the limited and inconsistent efforts to address
corruption and improve governance had little impact curtailing abuses.
Challenges and Possibilities
If President Yar’Adua’s government is to succeed where its predecessor failed, it will
need to implement a broadly based and persistent reform effort. This is a daunting
and long term task, but there are some discreet and relatively straightforward policy
steps the administration could undertake that could generate momentum towards
more far reaching reforms and real benefit for the Nigerian population. Human Rights
Watch’s recommendations to the Nigerian government and international community
are set forth at the beginning of this report.
As a first and very important step, the Yar’Adua government must acknowledge the
genuine problem before it, which is not primarily one of imperfect institutions, but
rather a failure of those in power to obey existing laws or ensure accountability for
politically motivated offenses. It may be unrealistic to expect President Yar’Adua to
publicly acknowledge the extent to which his own government’s election was the
product of fraud and abuse, but if his administration’s response to Nigeria’s crisis of
governance is to be meaningful and far-reaching, it must at least implicitly take that
reality into account. The problems that derailed the 2007 elections are the same
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Human Rights Watch October 2007