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Nigerian politicians 'hire' thugs
09/10/2007 12:32 - (SA)
Lagos - Politicians have "hijacked" democratic institutions in Nigeria by recruiting thugs and "godfathers" to prop up their careers, all while stealing public funds away from a desperately poor population, says Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report echoed condemnations by local and international observers after elections in April, which were largely deemed as fraudulent, mostly due to vote-rigging and voter intimidation by politicians' hoodlums.
HRW Africa director Peter Takirambudde said: "In place of democratic competition, struggles for political office are waged violently in the streets by thugs recruited by politicians.
"Once in office, these politicians use their power to undermine basic human rights and enrich themselves at the expense of Nigeria's impoverished populace."
Governance 'fuelled by godfathers'
Through interviews with the government officials, activists and the mafia-like "godfathers", HRW said its report, "Criminal Politics: Violence, 'Godfathers' and Corruption in Nigeria," documented politicians openly encouraging violence and the impunity that followed.
Politicians settled their scores in the streets of Africa's most populous country, setting thugs to run amok on their opponents and intimidated voters - and never being held to account, said the New York-based advocacy group.
The "dysfunctional" governance was partly fuelled by "godfathers", who weren't looking to be elected, but had armies of young men who physically ensured political hopefuls made it into office - all in return for cash taken from public coffers.
HRW said: "Law enforcement agencies have usually turned a blind eye to crimes linked to influential politicians or powerful godfathers, even where ample evidence of criminal wrongdoing exists."
Scores of people killed
Nigeria endured military rule until 1999, after the civilian government of president Olusegun Obasanjo was voted in. But his election was widely criticised as fraudulent, and polls in 2003 and those in April this year were no less condemned.
Scores of people were killed in election-related violence in the 2007 polls, which brought President Umaru Yar'Adua to power despite a flurry of complaints of vote-rigging by local and international observers.
While HRW said Yar'Adua was making the first steps toward improving the state of Nigerian politics, the group urged the new leader to end impunity for the West African nation's worst abusers of human rights.
Nigeria was blessed with an oil-wealth that hardly reached the bottom rungs of society and ordinary Nigerians remained impoverished, while political leaders grabbed what they could.
The country was often ranked as one of the world's most corrupt according to international anti-graft monitors.
Sapa-dpa
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