The decision of the Commonwealth to suspend Nigeria for two years with a threat of expulsion unless it returns to democratic rule and good governance within two years sends a clear message to the world that breaches of human rights are matters of international concern. The assertion by Nigerian leaders that the execution of nine political dissenters, including noted writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, was an internal matter is a shallow one.
The Commonwealth’s lead should result in other countries expressing their outrage and also to put economic and other pressure on the Nigerian military to hand over to civilian rule. It should also put paid to arguments that the Commonwealth’s earlier concern for human rights in South Africa was monochromatic … that if whites engaged in racism and breaches of human rights, the Commonwealth would bristle with moral indignation, but similar acts by black rulers would be ignored.
No-one should pretend that a return to civilian, democratic rule in Nigeria would solve the nation’s huge economic problems or its internal ethnic dissension. However, democracy and respect for human rights are essential conditions for good society. Those in power in many nations in the world at various times who have rejected democracy and/or breached basic human rights of freedom of expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest have used various excuses for putting their personal power over the rights of their people. Fascists in Europe and Latin America have argued the trains did not run on time in democracies, that democracies were economically inefficient. Authoritarians in parts of Asia have argued that their culture and economies demand cohesion and harmony that are not possible with democracy. Leaders in Africa have argued that tribal culture demands a chief, not a democratic ruler. They are wrong, morally and intellectually. Culture and economies fare as well or better under democracy. And even if they did not do quite as well, it is a price worth paying. Late trains are a small price for freedom from fear. All human beings must be concerned with breaches of human rights.
Since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, democracy has not had much of a chance. There have been at least six coups. The latest was in 1993 when the military annulled presidential elections held as part of a transition to democratic rule. The likely winner was jailed.
Plans to return to civilian rule have been postponed. The head of state General Sani Abacha has outlined a program leading to a civilian administration being sworn in on October 1, 1998, but there is no excuse for the delay.
Military rulers have been no less incompetent at handling economic concerns and tribal dissension than civilian ones. Nigeria has significant oil reserves and production, yet it has significant foreign debt. The rivalry among Nigeria’s three major ethnic groups have made matters worse.
The lot of the 120 million Nigerians can only be improved by a return to democratic values and for ethnic tensions to be resolved through the federal system. It is up to the rest of the world to join Commonwealth countries to exert the pressure to ensure that.