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Reps
fume over Obasanjo�s new emergency rule bill on
Plateau
By
Uchenna Awom
National
Assembly Correspondent
Writing
about the just presented budget proposal for the 2005 fiscal year by
President Olusegun Obasanjo may be somehow too hasty except if one
comments on the unusual character exhibited by mostly members of the lower
chamber which suggested that the appropriation bill was not entirely
welcomed and of course constitutes another round of political and moral
problem which they as lawmakers may face in the days ahead. But what may
be a topical issue that will put the lawmakers in a quandary before
November 23, 2004, is what to do and how to treat the ominous bill to make
provision for the Plateau State Unity and Reconciliation Law, 2004 and
establishment of a reconciliation commission sent to the House of
Representatives same last week he presented the appropriation bill
described by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) caucus in the House as a
circus and pure deception.
As
expected, members of the Plateau State caucus in the House have started
crying out against the bill, its import and the political motives. They
said the bill, particularly its timing and so many other things that were
left hanging and unanswered, makes it suspicious and as such casts a
sinister motive on what the plans of the Presidency are on the Plateau
troubles.
Speaking
through its Chairman, Rev. Adamu John Longhor, the lawmakers said the bill
might be a ploy by the Presidency to extend the state of emergency in the
state, and were waiting to be proved otherwise. �Whatever the motive, we
want to be assured that this bill is not a ploy to extend the state of
emergency. There can be any kind of commission, but the return of
democratic structures in the state come November 23 cannot be compromised.
Plateau State cannot afford to spare one day extra beyond the expiration
of the six months emergency period. But we will resist it�, he
said.
Well,
this is another problem that crept into the confines of the House of
Representatives last week, which will once more put Obasanjo, a President
still smarting from the horrors of the suspended nationwide strike
pretending that he was not bruised, on the spot. But some members who
still have some aspect of their �liver� intact are warming for a showdown
should the President make further proclamation to extend the emergency
period and rush for endorsement in the House.
Some
members, who would not want their names in print, said though they had to
contend with their party�s reprimand last time when they opposed the
emergency bill on principle, they will not mind going for a full �in-house
conflagration� should the leadership attempt to harangue members into
giving a blanket endorsement to such �evil intention�, adding that they
merely ignored the wholesome illegality that was committed that time by
the Presidency and the National Assembly whose members caved in to
state-sponsored religious sentiment to sway the lawmakers to support the
proclamation. But such situation, they added, does not exist again to
warrant an extension or the setting up a commission to reconcile the
people. �Then what was the function of the sole administrator all this
while�, the lawmakers chorused.
In
the bill, President Obasanjo said the Reconciliation Commission (and the
Amnesty Committee) is to compliment the gains of the Peace Conference; the
next stage of the peace process is the establishment of a reconciliation
commission for the state. The aim of this commission is to consolidate and
promote unity and reconciliation among the citizens of Plateau State, and
reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of crimes in the course of
past conflicts.
Perhaps
the aspect of the letter accompanying the bill that sent jitters down the
spines of most of the lawmakers and proponents of restoration of
democratic structures in the state was the portion where Obasanjo said,
�It is no gainsaying that peace and reconciliation do not constitute an
event, but rather the components of a process. I do believe that
reconciliation, based on falsehood and on not facing up to reality, is not
true reconciliation and will not last. It is only on the basis of truth
that true reconciliation can take place�.
Longhor
and others said this portion, if properly perused, contains the real
intentions of the national government, suggesting that not much has been
achieved and so to consolidate the �precarious� peace is to allow the
administrator to remain beyond the stipulated time. Based on this, the
Plateau clergyman-turned politician questioned why the commission was not
established earlier than now, when all Plateau indigenes are anxiously
expecting the restoration of all the suspended democratic structures on
November 23.
The
letter he said was in itself a surprise coming on the heels of the
successful peace conference where all the ethnic groups and other
stakeholders resolved to embrace peace once and for all, voting also for
the restoration of democratic structures in the state. The bill, he said,
suggested that there might be a clandestine moves or so to say a
deliberate design to create the environment for an extension of a state of
emergency.
Again
Longhor asked whether the lifespan of the commission is infinite, as the
President did not specify the duration or the financial implication. He
warned the lawmakers to be very careful of the bill so as not to make a
laughing stock of the country�s democratic process, adding that it would
be a great mistake for the state of emergency to be extended in Plateau
State.
But
Obasanjo told the lawmakers in the letter that the objectives of the
reconciliation commission will be as follows:
�
To establish as complete a picture as possible of the caucuses, nature and
extent of the gross violations of human rights which were committed during
the period from June 2000 to May 2004, including the antecedents,
circumstances, factors and context of such violations as well as the
perspectives of the persons responsible for the commission of the
violations, by conducting investigations and holding hearings;
�To
facilitate the recommendation of granting of amnesty, reprieve or
forgiveness to persons who make full disclosure of all the relevant facts
relating to acts committed in the course of conflicts;
�
To establish and make known the fate or whereabouts of victims and to
restore the human and civil dignity of such victims by granting them an
opportunity to relate their own accounts of the violations of which they
are victims;
�
To inquire into the question whether such violations were the product of
deliberate state policy of any organs, institutions, individuals or
whether they arose from abuse by the state officials of their office or
whether they were the acts of any political organization or other groups
or individuals; and
�
To recommend measures which may be taken to redress past injustices and to
prevent or forestall future violations or abuses of human rights�.
Apparently
summarizing his objectives Obasanjo said: �Justice and punishment serve
objectives: they can be restorative, rehabilitative and retributive or act
as a deterrent. It is my views that the prolonged nature of the conflicts
in Plateau State and the extensive number of alleged perpetrators of
violations in the course of those conflicts makes the combination of
truth, forgiveness, reprieve, amnesty and reconciliation a more desirable
option, in the first instance, to retributive criminal
justice�.
Longhor
and some other lawmakers faulted the President; particularly the lawmaker
asked if it is wise to establish a reconciliation commission strictly to
reconcile only Plateau State crises when there are myriads of conflicts
ravaging Nigeria. Again, he asked if it is not appropriate instead to
establish a broad-based commission that will reconcile all Nigerians,
especially other visible flash points like Rivers State and its hordes of
militia and mafia/cult groups, the Talibans in Borno and other areas. Why
Plateau alone.
�I
am of the view that this latest effort will rather resurrect all wounds
and ill-feelings already buried or do I say that all points to a
deliberate state policy to stall peace from returning to the state. But I
do not want to say the effort is the continuation of the gang-up against
Governor Joshua Dariye.
�What
is happening to Dariye is a set-up and I think and firmly believe that it
will fail flat�, he said
Well,
the advice remains that President Obasanjo should ignore some selfish
people who are benefiting from the crises in the state and as such would
want it remain shut out from the democratic process or at worst would not
want the status quo to remain.
Again,
is it not an irony that Ibrahim Mantu, the Deputy Senate President, a
prominent indigene of the state who has been penciled down for a national
honour is fingered as the arrow-head of those who want the emergency rule
extended? If he is not, then this bill should be blocked until all the
democratic structures are restored, at least through his clout.
In the meantime, Obasanjo
should be magnanimous enough to close some battlefronts as they are
becoming too many to constitute a nuisance value.
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