Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria
Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria
Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria
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Role of <strong>Nigeria</strong>’s International Partners<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce 1999, <strong>Nigeria</strong>’s foreign partners have generally failed to apply mean<strong>in</strong>gful<br />
pressure on the <strong>Nigeria</strong>n government to end patterns of human rights abuse or make<br />
government more accountable. In urg<strong>in</strong>g adherence to basic st<strong>and</strong>ards of human<br />
rights or good governance, <strong>Nigeria</strong>'s key diplomatic allies have rout<strong>in</strong>ely set the bar<br />
so low that the <strong>Nigeria</strong>n government can clear it without register<strong>in</strong>g any mean<strong>in</strong>gful<br />
improvement. This problem has been most obvious dur<strong>in</strong>g each of the elections<br />
<strong>Nigeria</strong> has held s<strong>in</strong>ce return<strong>in</strong>g to civilian rule. But the problem is not limited to<br />
elections: the polls simply provide a w<strong>in</strong>dow onto a political system whose built-<strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>centives for violence <strong>and</strong> abuse are re<strong>in</strong>forced every time an election is stolen. If<br />
left unchecked, that system will both further embolden perpetrators <strong>and</strong> likely<br />
generate more frequent <strong>and</strong> serious human rights abuses over time.<br />
In 1999, the <strong>in</strong>ternational community largely welcomed the results of polls that were<br />
widely condemned by <strong>in</strong>ternational <strong>and</strong> local observers, the <strong>in</strong>dependent press, <strong>and</strong><br />
the opposition as be<strong>in</strong>g marred by widespread fraud. Officials expla<strong>in</strong>ed their<br />
uncritical embrace of the badly flawed process by articulat<strong>in</strong>g a fear that criticism<br />
could destabilize <strong>Nigeria</strong>’s transition away from military rule. <strong>Nigeria</strong>’s 2003<br />
elections were by all accounts more fraudulent <strong>and</strong> more violent than those of 1999<br />
but aga<strong>in</strong> drew only muted criticism from <strong>Nigeria</strong>’s foreign partners. 373 The United<br />
States government, for example, responded to the 2003 rigged elections with a<br />
statement that read “[t]he United States congratulates the people of <strong>Nigeria</strong> for what<br />
was largely a peaceful expression <strong>and</strong> exercise of their right to vote.” 374 European<br />
<strong>and</strong> African governments, along with the European Union <strong>and</strong> African Union, also<br />
offered no mean<strong>in</strong>gful public criticism of the polls.<br />
373 See for example, “F<strong>in</strong>al Report on the National Assembly, Presidential, Gubernatorial <strong>and</strong> State Houses of Assembly<br />
Elections,” European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM),<br />
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/human_rights/eu_election_ass_observ/nigeria/rep03.pdf (accessed March 12,<br />
2007), p. 28.<br />
374 Statement on <strong>Nigeria</strong>n Elections by the Office of the Press Secretary of the White House, May 2, 2003. African governments<br />
<strong>and</strong> the AU offered no criticism of the elections.<br />
107<br />
Human Rights Watch October 2007
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