Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria

More documents

Recommendations

Info

In Gombe State, Human Rights Watch interviewed victims and local leaders desperate to find a way to end a reign of terror imposed by gangs employed by both the PDP and opposition parties alike since the 2003 elections. In the years after 2003 those gangs proved uncontrollable. They subjected local residents to abuses including armed robbery, extortion on the roads, rape, and murder. And in Rivers State, armed groups who openly acknowledge that they were sponsored by the PDP to rig the 2003 elections have since spiraled out of all control and have contributed to the spread of violence, insecurity, and human rights abuse across the entire oilproducing Niger Delta today. The situations in Gombe and Rivers States are discussed in detail as case studies below. Politicians, Cults and Gangs Political violence in Nigeria is most often carried out by gangs whose members are openly recruited, financed and sometimes armed by public officials, politicians and party officials or their representatives. These gangs, comprised primarily of unemployed young men are mobilized to attack their sponsors’ rivals, intimidate members of the public, rig elections and protect their patrons from similar attacks. Often, sponsors of political violence turn time and again to the same criminal gangs, violent campus-based “cults” and other sources to recruit agents of political violence. Those recruited are paid, often very little, and sometimes armed for the sole purpose of carrying out violent abuses on behalf of their political sponsors. Cults and Criminal Gangs Nigeria’s notorious “cult” organizations are a particular variety of criminal gang that began as benign campus fraternities, the first of which emerged in 1952 when a group of University of Ibadan students, including future Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, organized a fraternity called the Pyrates Confraternity. They have since proliferated and evolved into violent gangs that often operate both on and off campus, with one foot each in the criminal and political spheres. Across much of Nigeria and especially in the south, “cult” gangs are the most widely feared criminal enterprises in the country. The power and prevalence of these groups has grown steadily over the decades and especially since 1999. Many groups maintain ties to powerful politicians, some of whom themselves have associations with cult organizations 23 Human Rights Watch October 2007
dating back to their days at university. 57 This is so even though some Nigerian states have passed laws expressly outlawing many cult groups. Cult groups in Nigeria today are numerous and include groups such as the Buccaneers, the Black Axe, the Greenlanders, the Klansmen Konfraternity, and the Supreme Vikings Confraternity (or Vikings) along with many others. 58 These organizations sow terror among the student populations of many university campuses in Nigeria, forcibly recruiting new members and waging battles between one another that have included the assassination of rival cult members and the killing of innocent bystanders. 59 Reliable statistics about the on-campus human toll of Nigeria’s cult violence epidemic do not exist, but former Minister of Education Obiageli Ezekwesili estimated that some 200 students and teachers lost their lives to cult-related violence between 1996 and 2005. 60 Cult-related clashes on university campuses continue to occur regularly, especially in southern Nigeria. 61 Cult groups have also been implicated in widespread other abuses including extortion, rape and violent assaults. 62 The reach of many cults has spread far beyond university campuses, with many groups involved in drug trafficking, armed robbery, extortion, oil bunkering, and 57 See, e.g., “Nigeria: Focus on the Menace of Student Cults,” IRIN, August 1, 2002, http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=33251 (accessed July 12, 2007). For a discussion of Wole Soyinka’s reaction to the cult phenomenon in Nigeria, see “A Dream Perverted,” The Guardian, June 29, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1516717,00.html (accessed July 12, 2007). 58 The Rivers State Government passed a law in 2004 banning 100 different cult organizations by name, but many Rivers politicians are themselves widely alleged to be members of cult groups. See below, Rivers State Case Study. 59 In one notorious 2002 incident, cult members stormed an examination hall at the University of Nsukka and opened fire on students who were sitting their exams, killing seventeen people. The clash was widely believed to have been carried out by members of the Vikings cult seeking to eliminate members of the rival Black Axe. See “Nigerian ‘Student Cult’ Kills 17,” BBC News Online, June 19, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/africa/2054608.stm (accessed July 12, 2007). 60 “Nigeria: Focus on the Menace of Student Cults.” 61 See, e.g., Demola Akinyemi, “One Dies as Rival Cultists Clash in Illorin,” The Vanguard, June 11, 2007; “Campus Gang Beheads Student; Attacks Another,” This Day, September 9, 2006. Criminal Politics 24
Page 1 and 2: Nigeria Criminal Politics Violence,
Page 3 and 4: The Nigerian Police and Impunity fo
Page 5 and 6: In 1999, Nigeria’s military relin
Page 7 and 8: to account for their open mobilizat
Page 9 and 10: Recommendations To the government o
Page 11 and 12: To the Nigerian Police Force • Pr
Page 13 and 14: Historical Background and Context N
Page 15 and 16: Many Nigerians initially welcomed t
Page 17 and 18: elections should it choose to do so
Page 19 and 20: Foreign observers and Nigerian civi
Page 21 and 22: undertaken by Human Rights Watch an
Page 23 and 24: killed during the weeks surrounding
Page 25: and I fell down. After I fell down
Page 29 and 30: Nnamdi Azikwe campus in Awka had be
Page 31 and 32: Human Rights Watch days later, his
Page 33 and 34: There is no question we can’t rel
Page 35 and 36: over the eight years of the Obasanj
Page 37 and 38: Money flows up and down…these hon
Page 39 and 40: along with at least two to three bu
Page 41 and 42: The best thing you can get is a mul
Page 43 and 44: During the 2007 elections, oppositi
Page 45 and 46: followed up by any meaningful actio
Page 47 and 48: police force and address serious po
Page 49 and 50: police’s shortcomings as an insti
Page 51 and 52: One should expect by now that issue
Page 53 and 54: 2007 elections but then taken off i
Page 55 and 56: Case Study A: Oyo State This is whe
Page 57 and 58: Adedibu’s War Against Ladoja Rash
Page 59 and 60: The attempt to impeach Ladoja ended
Page 61 and 62: saw four or five people and they ju
Page 63 and 64: Ibadan. 197 Especially in Ibadan, A
Page 65 and 66: Box 4: A Future Governor Discusses
Page 67 and 68: apparent purpose of creating lists
Page 69 and 70: servants of attacking the NURTW men
Page 71 and 72: Among the politicians Chris Uba “
Page 73 and 74: Ngige—like much of the Nigerian p
Page 75 and 76: that purported “impeachment” pr
Page 77 and 78:
Peter Obi was reinstated in Februar
Page 79 and 80:
Fighting Over the Spoils According
Page 81 and 82:
in Anambra reached the same conclus
Page 83 and 84:
Case Study C: Rivers State They buy
Page 85 and 86:
There are widespread complaints amo
Page 87 and 88:
esponse to concerns that Igodo was
Page 89 and 90:
In 1999 and 2003, [Governor] Odili
Page 91 and 92:
The night before the April 14 elect
Page 93 and 94:
Tom, or their former political spon
Page 95 and 96:
In parallel with other situations d
Page 97 and 98:
Kalare Violence and the 2007 Electi
Page 99 and 100:
International observers told Human
Page 101 and 102:
eportedly urged his disgruntled opp
Page 103 and 104:
and encourages a greater scale of l
Page 105 and 106:
A few minutes earlier, internationa
Page 107 and 108:
problems that have crippled the cap
Page 109 and 110:
Yar’Adua has also promised to str
Page 111 and 112:
The International Response to Niger
Page 113 and 114:
after the rigged elections made no
Page 115 and 116:
firmly fixed at the opposite extrem
Page 117 and 118:
Criminal Politics 114
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125:
H UMAN R I GHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Ave
show all

Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?

Criminal Politics: Violence, âGodfathersâ and Corruption in Nigeria