VII. ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN PREVENTING POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Many senior government and police officials, including President Obasanjo himself, have repeatedly made public statements condemning political violence. The federal government called a meeting on March 19, 2003, inviting presidential and gubernatorial candidates from all the parties to reaffirm their commitment to a peaceful campaign. President Obasanjo warned at the meeting that the prevailing level of violence could threaten the outcome of the elections.¹⁹³ However, to date, government statements appear to have had little effect on the conduct of political candidates and their supporters. In addition, the message from the government has not always been consistent. For example, in a speech in Ebonyi State in early March 2003, President Obasanjo reportedly threatened he would "meet fire with violence and anyone who provokes violence will see my red eyes, and my red eyes are not good."¹⁹⁴ This type of statement is not likely to reduce tension; it offers no assurance that government and police will conduct themselves impartially and soberly and that security forces will avoid the use of excessive force and arbitrary arrests. In any case, more than strong words are required to prevent violence: criminal prosecution, and party discipline and disqualification for public office where applicable, are also necessary elements of a successful strategy. Until now, these elements have been largely missing. Political parties have rarely disciplined their members for failing to control youths who use violence to forward their political interests; prosecutions of politicians by the state have also been rare.

A political violence bill submitted by the President to the National Assembly in 2002 was rejected on technical grounds. It is unclear whether similar legislation will be resubmitted. A voluntary code of conduct for political parties, developed by INEC in cooperation with some of the political parties, was released on March 18, 2003, at a meeting to which all thirty registered parties were invited. Only nine parties signed on to the code of conduct at the meeting. Several of the major parties were absent, and the PDP and the ANPP were among the parties who failed to sign on to the code of conduct immediately. Four parties had reportedly still not signed on to the code at the time of this writing.

The commitments contained in the code of conduct would contribute significantly to reducing political violence if adhered to by the parties. Under the code, parties agree not to engage in violent activity "as a way of demonstrating [their] strength or supremacy," and to "avoid defamatory, derogatory and insulting attacks on rival parties or individual personalities" and "the use of inflammatory language...that incites violence, hatred, contempt or intimidation against another party." Signing parties also agree to forbid their supporters from protesting at opponents' political rallies and instruct their supporters not to bring arms to any political event. On election days, parties agents are required to cooperate with election officials and security forces to guarantee "efficient, transparent and uninterrupted conduct of elections." The code contains several other provisions relating to the rule of law and conduct of party members and supporters during campaigning and on election days. While signing on to the code of conduct is voluntary, the document states that its provisions "may [subsequently] be incorporated in law."¹⁹⁵

When pressed on what measures his party would take if a member were suspected of using thugs to commit violence against an opponent, the national chairman of one prominent party was vague about what the proper procedure would be: "we have various disciplinary measures; we can't have a set rule that will govern all cases... We would set up a committee within the party if there was use of thugs."¹⁹⁶ The national secretary of another major party said they had disqualified several candidates who had sponsored youths to commit acts of violence, including a candidate for the House of Representatives in Imo State and a gubernatorial candidate in Kano. But he admitted that "we might treat challenging candidates and incumbents differently, because we can't dismiss incumbents as easily without attracting negative attention from party members."¹⁹⁷

In an exceptional move, the PDP publicly summoned a governor to the party's national secretariat for his use of political thugs in March 2003. Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State was reportedly called to account for his role in an attack by dozens of party thugs on a large group of anti-Dariye demonstrators in Abuja on March 7. The fighting in the federal capital reportedly lasted an hour and many people were injured and some vehicles destroyed. ¹⁹⁸ At the time of this writing, it remained to be seen whether the incident would affect Dariye's governorship candidacy. Anambra Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju was the only one of twenty-one incumbent PDP governors who failed to win the party's nomination in December 2002; the Anambra gubernatorial primaries were twice postponed before the party finally declined to give him the party nomination. Public outcry against Mbadinuju's use of vigilante groups to fight crime and in some cases to oppress political opponents, combined with widespread dissatisfaction with his performance in office, might have partly explained the move.¹⁹⁹ However, the party did not suspend or expel the governor and had reportedly considered him for a high-level ambassadorship should the PDP retain the presidency; however, on March 12 Mbadinuju announced he had left the PDP to become the governorship candidate for the AD.

A recurring problem in incidents of political violence is the involvement of "youths," primarily groups of young men, who commit violence at the direction of politicians they support or at least with their knowledge. In Kano, local non-governmental organizations and journalists reported that long-existing youth gangs are now occasionally engaging in violent clashes in the context of political disputes, which have led to some deaths.²⁰⁰ Human Rights Watch researchers discussed this phenomenon with a senior Kano government official who explained: "what the leadership does, lower levels will follow. Within the PDP [the ruling party] in this state, the leadership is divided in four, so there's no discipline at the lower levels. When the top levels disagree, the lower levels fight. But the top levels still don't even meet to resolve their differences.... But they have no control over the lower levels."²⁰¹ Though not always direct sponsors of the violence, politicians bear responsibility when they fail to exercise control over their supporters, especially when the violence is committed in their interest, for example, to get control of a key neighborhood for vote-rigging purposes. Some youth groups, like those described in the Bayelsa case study above, are referred to as "cults" because of the secretive initiation rites, oaths of loyalty that the members are required to swear, and use of spiritualists and charms to attempt to strengthen and protect themselves in battle. In many ways, so-called cults in the Niger delta region do not differ from the gangs of youths that exist all across Nigeria and provide a sense of identity and empowerment for undereducated, unemployed young men who feel neglected or abused by the government and other institutions while their political patrons normally provide some level of benefit.

¹⁹³ Dan Isaacs, "Obasanjo warns of poll violence," BBC News, March 20, 2003.

¹⁹⁴ "Obasanjo Condemns Political Violence," This Day, March 5, 2003.

¹⁹⁵ Habib Yakoob, "INEC Releases Code of Conduct to Parties," Vanguard, March 19, 2003.

¹⁹⁶ Human Rights Watch interview with Saleh Jambo, National Chairman, UNPP, Abuja, February 19, 2003.

¹⁹⁷ Human Rights Watch interview with Sani Dahir El-Katuzu, National Secretary, ANPP, Abuja, February 19, 2003.

¹⁹⁸ "PDP Summons Plateau Governor over Violence," This Day, March 11, 2003. See also "Anti-Dariye Protesters Clash, Thugs Take over PDP National Secretariat," This Day, March 8, 2003.

¹⁹⁹ See Human Rights Watch/CLEEN report, "The Bakassi Boys: The Legitimization of Murder and Torture," May 2002.

²⁰⁰ Human Rights Watch interviews, Kano, February 1, 2003.

²⁰¹ Human Rights Watch interview, Kano, February 3, 2003.