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Introduction

On April 14 and 21, 2007, Nigerians will head to the polls to take part in national and statewide elections. At stake in the polls are the presidency, the two chambers of the National Assembly (the 109-seat Senate and the 360-seat House of Representatives), and the 36 state governorships and state houses of assembly. Those elected will be mandated to govern a country with profound human rights problems.

In 1999 many Nigerians expected that the end of military rule would bring rapid progress in governmental efforts to address fundamental human rights concerns—from access to education and health care to improving the criminal justice system. Nearly eight years on, those hopes remain largely unfulfilled.    

Despite soaring oil prices and a burgeoning treasury—since 1970 government revenues from oil have risen from some US$250 million to more than $45 billion annually¹—Nigeria remains mired in corruption, crime, poverty, and violence. Corruption has become a way of life and has bred a political system founded on patronage, influence-peddling, theft, and brutality. Too often, this political system rewards loyalty with the opportunity for graft and to commit criminal offenses with impunity. Elections in 1999 and 2003 were riddled with fraud and violence in many areas, for which there has been no accountability or redress, further entrenching the impunity enjoyed by corrupt and abusive officials at all levels of government.² All of this has contributed to serious abuses of civil and political rights. Official corruption has also crippled the state’s ability to deliver for its citizens enjoyment of even the minimum social and economic rights, including health and education. 

The federal government has made some strides in the promotion of human rights since the end of military rule. Most notably, despite abuses such as the harassment of some critical journalists by government security agencies, Nigerians are at greater liberty to exercise their right to freedom of expression than they were under military rule. But the legislative and executive arms of government have signally failed to resolve some of the country’s most pressing human rights issues, and the country’s overall human rights situation remains poor. Nigeria’s police and other security forces continue to be implicated in widespread acts of torture, extrajudicial killing, and arbitrary arrest.³Judicial processes meant to bring accountability continue to be hampered by corruption, political influence, and an unwillingness to address the underlying culture of impunity.⁴ Nigeria’s National Assembly has largely failed to act as an effective check on the presidency over human rights issues, a failure that is closely related to the fact that many parliamentarians were not elected in free or fair elections.

In order to begin to seek solutions to these problems candidates in all contests in the upcoming April elections must demonstrate an understanding of the scale of the crisis in Nigerian governance. All candidates from all parties should address the most glaring human rights problems facing the country. They should explain to the electorate in concrete terms how they would tackle these issues if elected to public office. Candidates across all parties have thus far largely failed to do this. This briefing paper outlines some of the key questions that candidates should consider if they are to seriously address the human rights situation in the country: corruption, ethnic and political violence, reform of the security services, and reform of the electoral machinery.

Human Rights Watch calls on all candidates seeking public office in April to publicly explain their plans for addressing the human rights issues set out below.

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