Speak up for democracy. Speak up for Nigeria
The world has hardly paid attention to the Niger Delta and Nigeria’s travails since 2003, or to the region generally. Unlike Los Angeles – or London, or Paris, or Hong Kong - there are very few stories and images that come to mind at the mention of the Gulf of Guinea.
If there is now any predominant narrative of the Niger Delta’s troubles it is “angry black man with a gun is in the way of your oil.”
Continue reading ‘More thoughts on the fragile state of Nigeria’
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright once observed that if you put America on its side, Los Angeles would be the place where everything loose would fall out.
(Los Angeles is a place I’ve never been to, and I expect neither have you. But the idea of Los Angles seems so vivid through American movie and television culture that we all can feel we get the joke.)
Reflecting on my experiences as an observer of Nigeria’s 2003 elections, I am left wondering if the Niger Delta - somewhere I have been - might be the place where all the loose parts of 21st Africa would fall out if you shook it hard enough.
International Crisis Group today published this report:
Nigeria’s democracy faces a crucial test […] Success would offer the country the first opportunity to achieve a genuine constitutional succession from one civilian administration to another since independence in 1960, thus consolidating democracy. Failure could provoke violent rejection of the results by wide sections of the populace, denial of legitimacy and authority to the new government, intensification of the insurgency in the Niger Delta and its possible extension to other areas, with potential for wider West African destabilisation.
Peter Preston writes in the Guardian today:
What’s at stake is something that matters hugely to Africa. Nigeria is populous, talented, resourced and dynamic. It is has a natural leadership role, and the inherent wealth to exercise it. And the long, uncertain years of military dictatorship may be over. Obasanjo will pass power to another civilian politician in April. There’s a tentative stability here that could turn into real hope.
Human Rights Watch is reporting on attacks on Anyakwee Nsirimovu.
As well as being one of Nigeria’s leading human rights campaigners, Anyakwee is a colleague and part of the same group of activist-friends I’m part of, so this is close to home and very alarming:
The assault and threats against Anyakwee Nsirimovu, a human rights activist who is director of the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) in Port Harcourt, were most likely a reprisal for his outspoken criticism of corrupt state and local government officials in Rivers State, Human Rights Watch said.
On March 4, Nsirimovu was attacked in Port Harcourt while driving home from a meeting. Around 8 p.m., a gang of at least six young men armed with knives, clubs and other weapons attempted to stop his car. When Nsirimovu refused to stop, they attacked his car, smashing the rear windshield and causing other damage to the vehicle. Because the youths allowed numerous other vehicles to pass by without interference, it appeared that Nsirimovu was the objective of their assault. Nsirimovu escaped unharmed.
“The assault and death threats against one of Nigeria’s leading human rights campaigners should be investigated immediately,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These attacks threaten free speech on key issues like governance and corruption during the critical pre-election period.”
[…]
Human Rights Watch believes these threats were in response to Nsirimovu’s outspoken criticism of corruption in the Rivers State government and in the state’s Local Government Councils in recent weeks. On February 12, for example, his organization issued a scathing public criticism of Rivers State legislators who had suddenly abandoned demands that Rivers State Governor Peter Odili account for the use of funds in the state’s US$1.3 billion 2006 budget before submitting the 2007 budget for a vote.
On January 31, Human Rights Watch released a report on the human rights impact of local government corruption in Rivers State entitled “Chop Fine.” Nsirimovu, through IHRHL, has been active in promoting public awareness of the problems documented in the report. All of these actions drew considerable ire from state and local officials. They have responded to Human Rights Watch’s report by claiming that it was false propaganda and that it was allegedly paid for by people the state’s Commissioner for Local Government Affairs described as “faceless enemies of the Rivers State government.”
Nsirimovu said that the assault and threats against him could lead other civil society groups to become wary of speaking out on the myriad human rights and governance issues facing Rivers State.
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