| OPUTA PANEL: My regrets-
Justice Oputa
By Usoro Usoro
Saturday July 17, 2004
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•Oputa
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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About three years after he headed the Human Rights Violations
Investigation Commission (HRVIC), Justice Chukwudifu Oputa
has expressed his regrets at the non-implementation of the
panel’s report.
Although he did not use the word “regret”, he
told Saturday Sun that when he accepted the job, he had no
idea that the panel report would be left to gather dust.
“I didn’t know that it won’t be implemented.
We all hoped it would be implemented”, he said, with
a note of regret. But his regret was even more apparent in
his facial expressions, when he recalled that he had “done
about 20 commissions for different governments since 1960”,
but only few of them were fully implemented.
Nigerians , added the 82-year -old jurist, had also
“genuinely” shown interest in the activities of
the panel and had anxiously expected implementation of the
report. “People were genuinely interested, they never
knew at that time that the report would not be published”,
he said.
We changed sleeping habits
One thing Oputa was sure of was that his panel changed the
sleeping habits of Nigerians, while it lasted. “We changed
people’s sleeping habit. Nobody went to bed until the
Oputa Panel enquiry had ended”. However, the Justice,
picking his words with care, said even if the report was not
implemented, the most important objective had been achieved.
He also tried to justify the delay in the implementation,
saying Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari had
gone to court, seeking to restrain President Olusegun Obasanjo
from even “reading” the report.
Reconciliation
“The most important aim of that commission was to reconcile
those injured or seemingly injured with those who injured
them. That is number one. The whole thing was based on reconciliation.
And that is why we did not want to do it in the private recesses
of an office. We designed the public hearing so that the whole
of Nigeria would listen to complaints about violations of
rights of Nigerians and those who violated their rights. So
that they would be judge and jury.
Two. The mere fact that you are asked to investigate a thing
doesn’t impose an obligation on the man who asked you
to accept your recommendation. He may reject it, he may accept
it, he may just keep quiet. I’ve so many inquiries.
We did one with (Justice) Kayode Esho - he was the chairman,
I was the vice chairman - on the judiciary. It took
five years before our report was published. And when that
report was published many of the people we said should be
dismissed had died. Some had retired. So government has a
right, first of all, to accept the recommendation or not to.
To publish the recommendation or not to. And that has nothing
to do with those who did the investigation.
Three. Two members of Nigerian community, Babangida and Buhari,
took the government to court asking it to prevent Obasanjo
from reading the report. If he hadn’t read the report
how can he publish a white paper? If you don’t know
what the report says how do you know whether it’s been
implemented? If you don’t read it how do you know what
the recommendations are? A lot of things are involved in this
report.
We didn’t share money
What has implementation got to do with you? It’s none
of your functions. Once you finish your investigation, your
job is finished. What they do with it has nothing to do with
you. Government that set up the enquiry may do anything they
like with the report. That has nothing to do with you. Look
at the South African report, one volume came out last year.
How many years since they finished?
Secondly, all the papers in that Commission are with the National
Archives. Any researcher can go there any time and look at
the document and make his own estimates, his own conclusions.
But most people who are anxiously asking about the report
thought we went there to share money to different people who
said their rights were violated. Most people thought we went
there to apportion damages - this man N2million -
no, no, no that’s not our main job. Some thought we
criticized them, we did not.
First success
We went to Ogoni... Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death split Ogoni
into two - Ogoni 9 and Ogoni 4. We united both warring parties
into Ogoni 13. That was the first success. When we were in
Lagos we tried to settle the Ife-Modakeke crisis. We thought
we settled it, but I heard it started all over again. But
that is the difficulty with settling dispute between communities.
It needs an on going effort to keep the settlement alive because
each settlement, you may have people who don’t want
it- who would work against it. But if a community wants peace,
they would do everything to keep the settlement alive. In
the North, the Jos area, wee waded into the dispute too -
tried to make them agree. When we were there we thought they
agreed. But there are so many hidden agenda between the contesting
parties.
Nothing’s wasted
So far, some Nigerians hold that the Oputa Panel, like most
other organs of enquiry in Nigeria, was a mere waste of time,
money and resources. But Oputa disagrees. “I don’t
think there’s any waste there. As I said, the public
hearing is worth its weight in gold. But for that commission,
Nigerians would not have known what happened. Every group
in Nigeria felt the need for reconciliation and as far as
I’m concerned that is more important. Question of compensation,
if you were in our shoes and you were to recommend compensation
for each alleged violation, where would you get the money
from? The government would be unable to pay. The government
did not violate your rights, persons did. Well, there were
some cases involving people working in government, as opposed
to government, and those people came as persons. The president
himself was the first witness. He gave evidence. We asked
him about what happened to Fela’s Kalakuta Republic
and he said, ‘I heard that too, as you are hearing it’.
Circus
Till today, most Nigerians remember the Oputa Panel more for
its entertainment than for confessions that were expected
at such a forum. But the head of the panel sees nothing wrong
with the drama that took over the proceedings. In fact, he
said that was the hallmark of any court room. “I’ve
been in the court for the last 50 years. Every court action
is a drama. We used to have a joke in the Bar. The oath witnesses
swear: ‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I
shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing
of the truth’ The correct thing is ‘nothing but
the truth’. You know, that is why a presiding judge
has got a very, very big assignment - to sift the evidence
and extract from the contradictions where the truth lies.
The ability to do that is one of the greatest, priceless possessions
of a judge. Law is all right, they can quote law but you must
have your facts. Believe those that are believable; disbelieve
those who you think are lying. And then make your findings
of fact before you consider the law on those facts as found.
So, you are right, every court scene is a drama. Whether it’s
enquiry or ordinary court sitting, all are dramas. And that’s
why witnesses dramatise”.
Some people had argued that there was no serious confessions
or admittance at the panel, perhaps because there was no threat
of punishment to those who lied on oath. Oputa agreed with
that but waved it aside quickly.
“Now, if the natives know that there are certain juju,
they would be afraid. If you bring it and they swear, they
would not lie. Every group in Nigeria is conscious that with
certain juju you can’t swear and lie. But that would
not help because we are advancing”.
Charly man show
Throughout out the sitting of the panel, most Nigerians refered
to it as “The Charly Man Show”, in apparent comparison
to the comical TV programmed anchored by Oputa’s son,
Charles, popularly know as Charly Boy. Surprisingly, the old
man said he was never aware his panel had such a tag. “I’ve
not heard that before. When we were sitting, people were genuinely
interested. I never heard them talk about Charly Man’s
Show but I knew that we changed people’s sleeping habit.
Nobody went to bed until the Oputa Panel enquiry had ended.
People were genuinely interested; they never knew at that
time that the report would not be published. They never knew
at that time that Babangida and Buhari would sue the government
to court. They sued the commission when we were in Lagos,
when we finished they sued in Abuja. So, when they talk about
Charly Man Show, I don’t know what they meant”,
he submitted.
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