Written and compiled by Prince Samuel Abiodun Adebowale
A deepening, oppressive and overwhelming perception of insecurity rules ruthless and remorseless over Nigeria. Terror rides with reckless abandon on a freakish horse of trepidation and fear of the unknown. Throughout the land, sorrow, woes, and throes flourish. Misery sails unchecked with the wind. Oppression rises at dawn and refuses to set. Not a single soul dares to feel safe, sheltered or secure under the dictatorial stagger of the almighty power-tipsy military junta. Nothing is well with Nigeria. Any patriotic endeavour with as much as a whiff of exposing or even mentioning ills of the society is regarded as an abominable crime - an act of villainy and treasonable felony - against the god (military tyrant) who has continued relentless and resolute on his path of destruction, milking the country dry since independence.
The military (members of the Nigerian military forces) are now overnight Nigerian multi-billionaires and multi-millionaires. Their favourite pastime is the art of accumulating chains of arrays of overtly expensive cars in the midst of squalor and degradation, building strings of houses whose architectural designs suffers one to comprehend the ethereal qualities of elysium in (almost) every world capital (including your country!).
Ours is a nation of impoverished primary and secondary education, pathetic polytechnic and university training (universities are often closed for several months), starving hospital and indigent medical care, vandalized infrastructure, et al. And besides these economic vandalism, like an odd strain of vampires, they continue to thirst for blood not only at night but during the day! They lavish their ill-gotten fortunes on vain, immoral and criminal pursuits, such as assassination of the stripped, naked, exposed, defenceless, innocent masses. They perform these sacrifices with our heritage which they hijacked. And, what effrontery!
Nigerians are mute, Yes, they are mute because they are terror-stricken and know no other state. They are like the infant who was nurtured, fostered and weaned on fear, terror and other like evils. He understands no other language but oppression. In his ignorance he can grasp only that he has to against all else have a share of his life - after all when there is life, there is hope - even while he is encapsulated.
For much too long Nigerians have been massacred, maimed and
killed. In 1986, Dele Giwa (picture), the founder and editor-in-chief of
NEWSWATCH magazine was callously murdered with a parcel bomb
(a military exclusive item!). The reason was that he was
relentless in his reports of the junta's ills.
In 1990, about 70 young military men were brutally exterminated by firing squad after a botched coup which levelled charges ranging from corruption, sectionalism, dictatorship and the likes against the then military junta. There are several cases of state sponsored terrorism; in 1995, over 13 people were killed in a bomb blast at a public function in Ilorin; and recent reported cases of bomb blasts abound (in places like Kano, Kaduna and Lagos); in 1995, Pa Alfred Rewane was assassinated; in February 1996, the publisher of Guardian newspaper, Chief Alex Ibru survived a gun attack and is currently receiving treatment abroad.
On June 4th 1996, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola (picture), wife of the Winner of the annulled Presidential election,
Chief M.K.O. Abiola (still in detention), was assassinated;
she was detained and subsequently charged to court for alleged
sedition a few weeks before her assassination.
One thing peculiar to all the above cases is that the victims were attacked at a period of their confrontation with the junta. The inhuman state of human rights abuse dictates the insensitive and unsympathetic plight of human rights groups in the country. The orgy of terrorism is extended both to the Nigerian national and the foreigner. On January 2nd, 1996, the BBC correspondent newly posted to Nigeria, Miss Hillary Anderson was detained for two days by the State Security Service (SSS) in Lagos; on January 4th, Paul Adams, a correspondent with Financial Times of London was arrested in Ogoni land and subsequently charged with sedition before finally released; in November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of the Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), was hanged alongside eight other members of the Ogoni tribe. They were delicately weaved into a pre-planned condemnation because of their fight against environmental pollution of their land by Shell Oil Company. Ogoni is a minority tribe that produces majority of the nation's crude oil, Ogoniland still remains in an impoverished and policed state; in March 1996, three student activists of the University of Calabar were ruthlessly killed during their protest against the kidnap of one of their colleagues.
Several human rights activists continue to be unjustly detained: since July 1995, the chairman of Campaign for Democracy (CD) Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti has been detained, he is presently serving a jail term of 15 years in Katsina prison for his involvement in a "suspected coup"; founder of National Conscience Party and renowned radical laywer Chief Gani Fawehinmi has been detained since January 1996 in Bauchi prison, but was released December 1996. Others are
Most unfairly, a further violation of their rights arises as to the question of their safety. Just of recent, Gani Fawehinmi's prison cell was broken into by some "unknown men of the underworld". Such cases of "breaking into custody" abound. On 24th December 1994, Kano Federal Prison was broken into. A citizen had sought custody for his dear life after allegations of abuse of the holy Koran had been levelled against him by muslim fanatics. He ended up beheaded! Now, if Gideon Akaluka was beheaded in the full glare of security operatives at the Federal Prisons, Goron Dutse in Kano; if prisons could be easily broken into and prisoners killed (a recent occurence in Lagos state of Nigeria), then how safe are the prisoners of conscience? Much to our chagrin, if Chief Gani Fawehinmi's prison could be easily and effortlessly broken into, then it is evident that the lives of our prisoners of conscience are NOT SAFE!
Chief Gani Fawehinmi was released December 1996.
Our ultimate goal now is to break the menacles. Break the fetters of terrorism in Nigeria. Foreign countries have continued to supply this junta with arms and ammunition which they have subverted from the normal use of national protection to the people's suppression. You can help us in various ways to free this country from the bondage from the few micronationalists in uniform. Set up campaign teams to mobilise support for selective sanction on the military government in Nigeria; campaign for immediate termination of military aid to Nigeria and instant discontinuity of all established military aid for armament and training; prohibit Nigerian military officers from travelling into and en-route your country; freeze the accounts of Nigerian military officers in your country. Staging these and many more psychological attacks with direct effect on the Nigerian military will call them to order.
We consequently have no alternative but to hope against hope that your contribution at this critical period will help us purge the Nigerian populace of the sown fear and horror in their minds, consequent upon which the people themselves will force the junta back to the barracks soonest. Then, all our prisoners of conscience will be set free by the people when the people have possessed their heritage. Don't watch us waste away or you will be committing as heinous a crime as our sovereign overlords. Act NOW! Remember, every being should be given a chance of a fair and free existence - of such is the essence of life.
Picture of late Kudirat Abiola before final burial. She was assassinated on 4th June 1996.
Last updated 21.04.97