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I
Will Hang IBB and Abdulsalami If...
Gani
Fawehinmi, SAN
and presidential aspirant speaks with Tobs Agbaegbu, associate
editor on the raging controversy about the recommendations of the Oputa
panel on Human Rights Violations in
Nigeria
. Excerpts:
Newswatch:
Can you please let us know your opinion on the recommendation of
the Oputa panel which was submitted to President Obasanjo
recently?
Fawehinmi:
I
dont have a copy of what was submitted yet.
But I have been reading from newspapers and magazines that
wide ranging recommendations were made, including linkage of IBB
with the Dele Giwa murder case and Abdulsalami Abubakar with the
death of M.K.O. Abiola. People are now asking where do we go from
here. The nation must show that crime, of whatever magnitude,
committed by any one is punished. That is the only way we can
maintain law and order, and respect for sanctity of life.
If
Oputa came to that conclusion which I believe is right, the
logical sequence is that Obasanjo owes a duty to his oath of
office, to uphold the provisions of the constitution of 1999. And
one of its 320 provisions is the right to life. That right to life
was also in the 1979 constitution and the military did not
abrogate it.
At
the time Dele Giwa was murdered, he had his right to life which
was snuffed out of him. Therefore, Obasanjo owes a duty, to his
oath of office to the constitution of
Nigeria
, to the
rule of law, to orderly arrangement of the Nigerian polity, to the
sanctity of life and to God to accept that recommendation under
the Tribunals of enquiry act.
Having
accepted it, Babangida should be arrested. He no longer enjoys any
immunity. Section 308 will not apply to Babangida. He is an
ordinary citizen. He must be arrested immediately, placed in
custody, arraigned before court of law, prosecuted by the ministry
of justice and should be made to face the music and if found
guilty, he should be hanged. That is the only way by which he
should be seen, not to be above the law of the country.
Secondly, once you do that, the highly influential, the well
connected, the highly placed people in society, who
have been riding rough shod over the laws of the nation,
will now sit up and say that the law rules. Unless you do that,
the law will continue to be treated with disdain. Personality will
be above legality and injustice will continue to thrive. Unless
that is done, the whole recommendation will come to zero.
Newswatch:
You are campaigning to be president. If Obasanjo fails to
take your advice and you win, what will you do to IBB, Abdulsalami
and others, on the Oputa recommendation issues?
Fawehinmi:
(Prolonged
laughter) One of the immediate acts I will take as president of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria is to dust the file in
respect of Dele Giwa, call on Abubakar Tsav who was
investigating , call on my minister of justice and call on the
inspector-general of police to go and arrest the man called
Ibrahim Babangida, and tell the police to conclude their
investigation immediately. Minister of justice, arraign Babangida
before the court, and let the course of justice take its turn. And
if he is found guilty, I am not going to use prerogative of mercy.
I will not use bomb to blast him the way he blasted Dele Giwa’s
life out of existence. I will use the ordinary process of hanging
which we have under the law. The hangman is there and his life
will be taken in accordance with the law if he is found guilty. I
have no doubt in my mind that he committed the offence. I have
never had any doubt since 1986, so that will be the first of many
acts I will take as president.
In
conjuction with that I must fight injustice for people to know
that there is no big man. I must arrest Babangida for killing Dele
Giwa, I will arrest Abdulsalami for his role in Abiola’s murder
and investigation will be done. He himself will face music for
killing MKO Abiola. I will set few examples to show that no big
man is above the law of the nation.
Newswatch:
Let’s look at the recommendation, as it relates to Buhari
whether the report condemned where he killed some cocaine pushers
through a retrospective law and recommended that the military
junta be held responsible for the death of the cocaine pushers.
Fawehinmi:
Yes, they killed many cocaine pushers, no doubt about it. It is
the retrospectivity that was condemned. You know, so many cocaine
pushers were killed. It is the retrospectivity that was condemned
concerning the first three that were killed. That is why in the
constitution now, you don’t have retrospective laws. Well, once
there is a recommendation, there is no way they would not be
tried. I don’t know his defence but retrospectivity
was found against the rule of law. Of course, I have no
tone of the defence counsels but I know that retrospectivity is
what is frowned at by the law of our country. Even in the present
constitution and in the 1979 constitution. But for Abdulsalami,
his case is a more serious one. Let me tell you. There are two
serious murders in the history of this country. The first was Dele
Giwa. You see these people are supposed to protect us and not
eliminate us as citizens. The way Dele Giwa was killed is
dastardly. They way they treated me because I said I wanted
justice for him and the society was abominable. Now when you look
at that of MKO, it has another dimension. I don’t see why
Babangida should not partake in that dimension. If Abacha had
lived, he will be part of that conspiracy. If June 12 was not
annulled, Abiola would not have died.
So, either as an accessory before the fact or whatever
Babangida is connected in one way or the other to what befell
Abiola . Two, Abiola won an election, he was incarcerated, Abacha
was responsible. But the man who did the act and the way he did
the act, made him an accessory before the fact. The day he was to
be murdered information was that he called two of his wives to
Abuja
who met
him. Abdulsalami then asked them to go. After that, they were
still at the airport, no plane has left when they called them
back. If I were the president of this country today, Ehm, if
Obasanjo does not accept that recommendation, then he would need
to be examined for culpability. There are rumours that Babangida
met Obasanjo when he came out of prison that he should come and
become president, Obasanjo retorted that Abiola is still there and
Babangida answered that he should forget that. That aspect should
be investigated. Once Babangida told Obasanjo to forget that, and
they took care of that. So, Abdulsalami was working hard in glove
with Babangida. That is why I said Babangida must be an accessory
before the fact. So, if Obasanjo does not accept that
recommendation then he must be tried when he leaves office.
Newswatch:
It is reported that IBB has gone to court to stop the
implementation.
Fawehinmi:
Yes.
We have equally applied to be joined. He did it in year 2000 when
Oputa was about to sit. First, he said his life was not safe in
Lagos
. I told
Oputa to take us to anywhere and then we went to court. He got an
order that they should not compel him to appear. That court did
not say that Oputa panel should not continue. There was no order
against Oputa that he should not inquire into the death of Dele
Giwa. There was no order that I should not be there. I then
applied that I should be joined and I was joined as a co-defendant
with Oputa. The matter is still pending at the Supreme Court. Now
Oputa submitted his report as a tribunal should: You did not go to
court to stop him submitting. I don’t know where he got the
information from about the recommendation. It was after Oputa has
submitted that he went to court. I doubt if it was the committee
member that leaked it. Somebody must be at the presidency who
leaked it to Babangida. And we want to know who.
Secondly,
he is saying the recommendation should not be implemented. What
recommendation? You did not attach it. I have a copy of the
application he filed. He did not attach the recommendation he
wants the court to stop. It’s just speculative. He is afraid to
show to the court what the recommendation was, and where he got it
from. And that is why I want to join. We want to know where he got
the report from, and to know also, in this country, where there
are abuses of power, whether people put in charge of the affairs
of the country leak secrets to their friends, we want to know.
That is the danger we are facing. If he knew about the
recommendations before the report was submitted, he would have
gone to court to stop it from being submitted. So Oputa is
absolved. His commission absolved, so he did not know. He went to
court after the report was submitted, so he knew about its
recommendations after it was submitted. The question is: Who did?
The presidency is guilty.
Newswatch Volume 35 No 25, June 24, 2002
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