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

controversy, as its effect will be to force Anambra’s voters to wait seven years from
their last chance at voting for a governor to the next election. Nonetheless, in
unseating one of the PDP’s most powerful and well connected gubernatorial
aspirants, the Supreme Court highlighted the impartiality and independence with
which the Nigerian judiciary has generally comported itself in political cases
surrounding the 2007 elections.
Anambra’s example, however, also illustrates the limitations of what the judiciary
can accomplish by itself. The authors of Anambra’s worst abuses—including murder,
illegal possession of weapons, and the wholesale rigging of the 2007 electoral
process in the state—continue to enjoy complete impunity for their crimes. Chris Uba
no longer has the same political influence as previously, but this was largely the
result of his brother Andy’s actions, and he remains a powerful member of the PDP’s
national Board of Trustees. Andy Uba may have lost the election, but there has been
no effort to investigate him or his associates for his campaign’s open recruitment of
cult groups as political muscle. The government and electoral officials responsible
for the brazen rigging of Anambra’s elections have not been held to account and
there has been no move made to do so. There has also been no investigation into
the use of corruption and the threat of selective prosecution to bring about Peter
Obi’s impeachment in November 2006.
Anambra’s citizens have remained without a meaningful voice in the selection of
their political leaders since at least 2003. Without sustained action against cult
gangs and their backers, violence, fraud and corruption are likely to remain features
of the state’s political landscape.
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Human Rights Watch October 2007