INTERNATIoNAL BY Bola A. Akinterinwa
The 20 October 2020 protests by the #EndSARS, organised to demand an end to police brutality in the country and the reaction of both the military and the policemen by way of brutal killing of some protesters who were all singing patriotic songs and the National Anthem, as well as waving the national flag, clearly suggest that there is no jot of democratic freedom in Nigeria, that Nigeria is playing host to civilian rule but not to democratic rule. In a normal democratic setting, freedom of expression is always taken for granted. Freedom of expression can be verbal or expressed by way of protests. This was what happened on 20 October 2020, but which the security agencies brutally suppressed. The brutal suppression was a coup on democracy, on democratic will and an expression of unwanted militarizing democracy.
Put differently, consistent with Nemo dat Quod non Habet, which simply means that no one can give what he or she does not have, the fatal mistreatment of peaceful protesters is an acknowledgement of the fact that Nigeria does not have democracy as a value. Nemo dat Quod non Habet is a basic legal principle according to which, without adequate ownership of a thing, ownership of such a product cannot be transferable. Acquisition and ownership of democratic values is yet to be imbibed by the security agencies in Nigeria. The security agencies operate as if Nigeria is under a military junta, as if PMB is still an active soldier where obeying the last order must be complied with without complaint. This is one way of explaining and understanding the killing of peaceful protesters who want a better Nigeria that will be free from dishonesty and impunity.
Most unfortunately, however, this cannot but be so, because democracy is more of an aspiration than an acquired asset in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria. It is generally believed that no one is above the law, principle of nemo est supra leges. In Nigeria, the truth is that the principle does not apply. Where the principle applies, the security forces are always above the law. Security agents generally behave as if they are above the law. They operate above the law because they are in possession of the instruments of force. More significantly, they do and undo freely because of the Nigerian environment is that of general impunity.
In fact, corruption, societal indiscipline, and political chicanery thrive with ease in Nigeria and have become the hallmark of political governance. The report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, submitted to the Lagos State on Monday, 15 November 2021, was in two parts. One was on investigation on petitions on several abuses. The other was on the 20 October 2020 Lekki Tollgate shootings. The report lends justification to non-democracy or democratic lawlessness in Nigeria, the implications of which are very critical for Nigeria’s foreign policy.
Institutional Dishonesty
Political governance under President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has been largely fraught with institutional dishonesty and impunity, especially in terms of saying one thing and acting the contrary; saying another thing in the morning and denying same the following morning; encouraging political chicanery, while protecting the same by fiat; adopting policy measures that divide Nigeria, on the one hand, and also preaching the gospel of indissolubility and indivisibility of Nigeria, on the other.
Unbelievable but true, Nigeria has become a terra cognita of political contradictions, institutional dishonesty, and impunity, because they are openly manifested and acquiesced to by the people. The contradictions occur and are also uncatered to, as if they do not matter to national survival. What the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters has clearly shown is not simply the brutality of Nigeria’s security forces, but particularly all efforts to cover up the aspect of brutality of the 20 October 2021 saga, which has been referred to as ‘a massacre’ in the report of the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led judicial panel. Attempts at cover up are an expression of institutional dishonesty.
Polemologically, the use of the word, ‘massacre,’ raises the issue of institutional corruption and dishonesty at the government level. First, Nigeria is said to be fantastically corrupt, to borrow the words of a former British Prime Minister, simply because of rampant institutional dishonesty. And true, any act or manifestation of dishonesty is necessarily corrupt in design and character. Corruption is an act of dishonesty. Put differently, when the EndSARS protesters embarked on their very peaceful protests with the waving of Nigerian Flags and chanting of Nigeria’s National Anthem, many of them were brutally killed. Most unfortunate, but this is a feature that has become a characteristic of PMB’s political governance of Nigeria. The reactions of the security forces to the protests were manu militari in operation. They are designed to cover up in objective, and most unfortunately, they are denials of truism that enable the international community to see Nigeria and her people in bad light.
Chief Duro Onabule, former editor of the National Concord newspaper, has reminded us about many cases of institutional dishonesty in Nigeria: ‘clandestine attempt to re-absorb Rasheed Maina into the top hierarchy in the Federal Civil Service, despite the fact that that he had been declared wanted by the EFCC for stealing over two billion naira from the Pensions Commission’ (vide his “Futile Bid to Cover Up Lekki Report,” Daily Sun, Friday, November 19, 2021, p.31). Why should anyone want to embezzle common patrimony, money meant for retirees? If the EFCC is seeking prosecution of the accused, why is that prosecution not the priority rather than seeking a top appointment in the public service to cover up as the priority?
Duro Onabule also recalled the case of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, ‘who had been on suspension for an entirely different reason. The vacillation over Babachir’s trial almost made Nigerians forget the man’s fate.’ Why is it that government officials and politicians are hardly on record to defend fairness and justice, but are always on record to cover up insanities, wrong doings, and wickedness? When the public was debating international allegations against the immediate past Service Chiefs at a point in time, PMB made them extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors to make them enjoy diplomatic immunity, but which may not cover offences committed before the grant of their agréments. This factor of vacillation and self-denials is still much reflected in the various reactions to the judicial panel’s report. In the words of Onabule, ‘more irritating were (sic) the arrogance and lies thrown about all over the place in vain attempt to cover up the bloodshed’ (ibidem).
One of the notable members of the Panel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, noted during a Channels Television discussion programme that ‘since the submission of the EndSARS Panel Report to the Governor of Lagos State on November 15, 2021, members of the Panel have become the subject of vicious attacks by those suspected to be agents of the government. All manner of allegations has been heaped upon Panel Members, some of whom have been called unprintable names.’ Arguments on discrepancies between evidence and findings by the Panel are being raised, not necessarily to establish the truth, but to suppress it. Why is truth not a value in the governance of Nigeria? With a White Paper or not, any attempt at cover up of the truth cannot be a vain attempt, regardless of the fault-findings and effort at ‘panel beating’ of the nexus between evidences adduced and findings of the Panel.
It cannot but be an act of dishonesty to voluntarily set up a panel of people believed to be of impeccable integrity, to voluntarily fund well the Panel, and then thereafter, begin to hesitate in accepting the findings and recommendations of the Panel. Without doubt, it can be argued that the Government had fully and well funded the Panel in expectation that the Panel would help to cover up the aspect of massacre in its report. Justice Doris Okuwobi is a retired Justice and may have the fear of God to contend with in the rest of her life. Therefore, she might have no fear of Government or no special needs from Government. In other words, there is nothing preventing her from operating on the basis of objectivity of purpose, which the Government of Lagos might have not expected.
It might also be true that the good funding of the Panel might have been sincerely done in the spirit of good governance and objectivity of purpose, the truth is that unnecessary pressures are being mounted to ensure that the indictment of the security agencies is not reckoned with in the implementation of the report. Without any doubt, the Lagos State Government is not much happy about the observations made on what happened on 20 October 2021 at Lekki, especially that it was more of a massacre. It is therefore understandable if there are people strongly believed to be working for the Lagos State Government are lambasting members of the Panel in such away as to destroy the essence of the report. This is again a manifestation of institutional dishonesty. To what extent can the politics of cover up go in the governance of Nigeria? Truth and honesty are what exalt a nation, we are told in the Bible. How does God perceive Nigeria of today?
The Foreign Policy Dimensions
The report of the Doris Okuwobi judicial panel directly negated the earlier pretensions and denials of the security agencies regarding the massacre of the #EndSARS peaceful protesters. The issue of massacre, according to the Panel, or ‘massacre without bodies,’ according to Lai Mohammed, has many foreign policy implications. Let us begin with the domestic level, since it is generally agreed that foreign policy is the continuation of domestic policies at the external level.
First is the factor of denials at various levels in October 2020. The Nigerian army vehemently denied its presence at the scene of the protests. Later, it admitted its presence at the venue but added that its presence was on the invitation of the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who explained, in his own reaction, that he was not the Commander-in-Chief and therefore did not have any control over the Nigerian Army. He denied, by so doing, that he ever invited the Army. The army was not happy with the denial.
What is noteworthy is that the Army claimed not to have killed anyone but admitted that the soldiers deployed to the Lekki Tollgate were given both live and blank bullets. In the words of Brigadier General Ahmed Taiwo on 14 November 2020 at the session of the Panel, there were ‘peaceful protests no doubt. But there were also hoodlums who sought to take advantage. That is why they were armed with blank bullets in addition to the live bullets they were carrying.’
Most unfortunately, it is not clear how many of the infiltrators were accosted, prosecuted, or killed. What is clear is that it is the peaceful demonstrators that have been fatally dealt with. The Army claimed it had fired their weapons in the air and used blanks, not live rounds. The question to be answered is how the blank bullets have killed defenceless people and why the live round bullets have not been preserved. The truth of the matter here is that both the CNN investigation reports, the analyses of some ballistics experts, and military officials have clearly shown that the shape of the bullet casings used at the scene were live rounds. Thus, the soldiers fired live rounds and not blanks.
We observe here that the brutal killing of protesters was deliberate, because, by the time of the aggression, for reasons that have been difficult to explain, streetlights at the venue of protests had been switched off. Why was it that the lights were put off at that material time? Why were the lights dysfunctional at that material time? How do we explain the coincidence that it was when there would be or were peaceful protests that the lights suddenly develop technical faults? The strategic location of the tollgate, the heavy flow of traffic at the tollgate and the seriousness of security threats in the area necessarily warrant the permanency of provision of streetlights at the Lekki Tollgate. Additionally, mysteriously, not to say coincidentally, the CCTV cameras were also no longer working at that material time. However, different people, standby observers, still have their telephone handsets to freely take pictures of what transpired at the venue. They showed corpses parked in vehicles of armed men, but in the eyes of the Army and Federal Government, it was all ‘fake news.’
Second, when a panel of inquiry was set up under Justice Okuwobi, the Nigerian Army refused to participate in it, but later, for reasons unexplained, accepted to participate in it, arguing that it had never engaged in any killing. At another point in time, it admitted that its men had live ammunitions but did not shoot at people. They only had live ammunitions in preparation for self-defence against eventual attacks by the unarmed patriotic protesters seeking an end to police brutality in Nigeria.
Third, Governor Sanwo-Olu admitted that there were only two fatalities. He blamed the fatalities on ‘forces beyond his control.’ But was this true? In November 2020, Brigadier-General Musa Etsu-Ndagi, Commander of the 9th Brigade, reportedly told the Panel that ‘he received a phone call from Babajide Sanwo-Olu…around 7.23 pm on October 20, 2020, that a certain Lt-Col Bello was shooting at the Lekki Tollgate where #EndSARS protesters were. If this was so, who do we believe: the Governor or the Brigade Commander?
Whatever is the case, all these claims by the Governor, the Army and the Police, have been debunked by the report of the Okuwobi Panel of Inquiry which says, ‘at the Lekki Toll Gate, officers of the Nigerian Army shot, injured and killed unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, without provocation or justification, while they were waving the Nigerian Flag and singing the National Anthem and the manner of assault and killing could be described as a massacre.’
More significantly, the report says the men of the Lagos State Government had tampered with the surveillance equipment at the Toll Gate and that ‘there was abundant evidence before the Panel that three Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), trucks with brushes underneath, were brought to the scene ‘to clean up the scene of bloodstains and other evidence. The Police, the report says, ‘tried to cover up their actions by picking up bullets.’ This aspect of the report is what is currently generating national controversy and international concerns.
At the international level, Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed infuriated the international community for aying in 2020 that there was no killing and that the alleged shooting was a case of ‘massacre without bodies,’ that it was ‘fake news’ meant to simply undermine the integrity of the PMB administration.’ The same is true of the position of Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, who argued that the shooting was not by the Nigerian soldiers, but by hoodlums wearing military fatigues. Lai Mohammed, in fact, attacked the Amnesty International and DJ Switch who live-streamed the shooting on Instagram. Now that the report of the Panel has now made a nonsense of Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s fake news, how does the Government at both the state and federal levels manage the truth at the international level?
Even though Governor Sanwo-Olu has given two weeks for a White Paper to be prepared from the 309-page report submitted by the Panel before determining the next line of action of government, the public has been insisting that, under no circumstance will the observations and recommendations of the original report be allowed to be swept under the carpet. This means that a likely confrontation between Government and the people cannot be ruled out.
At the international level, like the Nigerian Army at the domestic level, the United States did not believe that there was any killing of protesters in October 2020. With the report of the Panel, the Government of the United States, probably acknowledging that it was wrong on its initial policy of no killing, has now asked the PMB administration to implement the recommendations of the judicial panel, which include establishment of a body to take over human rights abuses in Lagos and the taking of disciplinary action of those who took the law into their hands.
One major objective, apart from ending police brutality, is the quest for good governance and vibrant united Nigeria. The Federal Government has not truly responded to the demands of the protesters. None of the killers has been brought to book. It is as usual impunity galore. This does not present Nigeria in good light internationally. No wonder, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Amnesty International are insisting on transparency in the handling of the report, particularly the White Paper. In this regard, arms embargo may be placed on Nigeria by the United States because of the Leahy vetting which prohibits the US Government from providing military assistance to foreign security units that infringe on human rights with impunity. Nigeria may also be dragged to the International Criminal Court under the Rome Statutes. Besides the saga of Boko Haram insurgency, armed banditry, Fulanisation and Islamisation agenda controversy, self-determination and secession agitation, Nigeria’s international image is being tainted, regardless of PMB’s international marketing of Nigeria in many countries. The marketing is more of frolicking around than a serious positive image making. No international self-projection can impact meaningfully when the domestic setting is fraught with lawlessness. The denials of non-killing by the Army are not as incriminating as the use of live bullets to deal with peaceful protests. Consequently, whether it is the blank bullets shot in the air that killed, or the non-used live bullets that were preserved that eventual accounted mysteriously for the death of the protesters, time will tell, but the future of Nigeria, as a united, indissoluble, and indivisible nation cannot be bright if Government continues to cultivate the culture of dishonesty and denial of truisms as a mania of life.
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