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That Lemu Report …Averting More Violence, Social Revolution
Under the aegis of Northern Political Forum and spearheaded by one-time minister, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the group had held that they would make Nigeria ungovernable should the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deny the north, the presidential ticket.
So destructive were the campaigns and dangerous the incitement of ordinary northerners that it became very obvious that danger was indeed lurking around the political process.
However, in exercise of their franchise, majority of Nigerians had voted over-whelmingly in favour of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, against the will of pockets of politicians from the northern parts of the country, who had misinformed their largely illiterate followers that the presidency was the North’s. It was in defence of that interest, not necessarily, Gen Mohammadu Buhari’s call on his supporters to defend their votes, that actually actuated the violence after the election.
This was aptly captured by the Lemu panel which found; “ generally speaking, the basic cause of violence in nearly all the communities concerned is political.
Ethno-religious sentiments were brought into the issue through negative campaigns and rumour-mongering by unscrupulous individuals to achieve their ulterior motives. Similarly, the zoning controversy which started basically as an internal political affair of the ruling party, ultimately changed the nature of the presidential election into ethno-religious contest in the country, particularly in the northern states.
“Provocative utterances by many individuals and the widespread charge by prominent politicians, including the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Presidential candidate, to the electorate to guard their votes appeared to have been mis-construed by many voters to include recourse to violence, which they did.
The panel chairman, however added a caveat intended to exonerate Buhari when he said, “ However, a long interactive session was held with the CPC presidential candidate and five member delegation of the panel led by the chairman, in the office of the CPC Presidential candidate in Kaduna on 14th September, 2011. It was discovered that he himself was a victim of the violence and of the destruction of his property, the photographs of which were given to the delegation.
The committee therefore, chose to blame, of all the causes identified by it , the declining spirit of God-consciousness and accountability before God, very low moral standard as well as social indiscipline in the Nigerian society as the major facilitating factors of the violence in which several among them, defenseless members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were butchered.
Presenting the panel’s report to President Jonathan earlier, Shikh Lemu warned that unless current social, economic and security situation was addressed, it could “escalate to social revolution”. To achieve that, the panel said , the president would step on the toes of some powerful persons and institutions”, who are those? Above the law?
Lemu said; “the first and probably the most important major cause of the post-election crisis is the failure on the part of previous successive regimes, since the military, to hand over (of) power to civilians in 1999, to Implement the recommendations of various committees, commissions and panels that had taken place in our nation”.
Commendable as the Lemu panel’s findings and recommendations may appear, it is most worrisome that punishment for masterminds of the violence that claimed several lives, is not one of them. The implication is that non-implementation of previous reports is a justification for the killings and destruction, meaning in our case, two wrongs can necessarily make one right.
Yes, the greatest incitement to crime is the hope of dodging punishment,, which in part, powered the culture of impunity among well-placed Nigerians and their standing armies who strike at the slightest provocation or even on rumours, but I do not think, that should wipe clean the atrocities of those who engineered the dangerous campaigns that polarised the electorate along ethno-religious lines and then the killings.
The panel has instead, recommended among others, the implementation of various panel reports as a first step towards erasing the culture of impunity and preventing further reprisals, even if the panel agreed that many aggrieved individuals found in the post-election uprising their own opportunity to avenge earlier injustices meted to them.
As would be expected, presidency sources have assured that Jonathan is resolute to implement recommendations of the Lemu panel, as it would also others before it . Infact, a committee has been set up to appraise all such reports to enable the Federal Government produce a white paper that would address, in a lasting manner, all the issues captured by the various reports.
Among such reports listed for action include: The Babalakin Judicial Commission of Inquiry in Bauchi State Civil Disturbances, Karibi Whyte Judicial Commission of Inquiry in Kafanchan Disturbances, Niki Tobi Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Plateau State Disturbances and the Justice Sankey Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Wase and Langtang Disturbances.
The others are, the Justice Disu Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Plateau State Disturbances, Prof Tamuno Panel of Inquiry on National Security and the Justice Uwais Election Reform Committee.
In clear terms, Lemu stated, “people indicted by the committees and commissions concerned should be prosecuted”. That position, the panel explained, arose from their own observation from many victims of those previous disturbances who, according to the panel, are nursing reprisals and have only been waiting for the slightest excuse to move into action, which some of them did during the 2011 election violence and civil disturbances.
If that is so, then those indicted by the Lemu report ought to be fished out and prosecuted also, so as to avoid another reprisal attacks. In clear terms, the process should be addressed holistically and not just targeted at former offenders.
While that is on, a lot needs to be done to the gullible minds of the average northerners to understand that the Jonathan presidency is not the enemy; that presidency of Nigeria is not an exclusive preserve for any section of the country; that the frustration against the system now is misplaced because in most parts of the about 51 years history of the Nigerian state, the northern parts have held on to political power more than all other sections put together.
Therefore, the deprivations, infrastructural decay, economic hopelessness, poverty, hunger and diseases are products of the misrule of the past leadership, mostly of the north who are today inciting them against the Jonathan’s presidency.
To achieve that, the President and Commander-in-Chief should be fair and firm in exercising his constitutional powers necessary to guarantee security of lives and property, while also addressing the problems of poor electric power supply, the economy, infrastructure development, joblessness, education, health, bad federal roads and indeed sustainance of the rule of law.
But I have a worry. How prepared is the nation’s security institutions to face the challenges? How trusted are they? What is their intelligence capability and their level of patriotism? How indeed can we assess their allegiance in this crusade?
These questions are necessary because the Lemu Panel report, shall appear to be inconclusive if it failed as it now appears, to identify the genesis of the inciting campaigns under the guise of projecting northern interest and indeed the key actors whose propaganda machine overtly incited the violence against the Nigerian state and her peoples.
My Agony is that Adamu Ciroma who repeatedly threatened what we today see and witness, was nowhere mentioned directly in the report.
Soye Wilson Jamabo