A WELCOME RECONCILIATION

At the Public Presentation of The Report of Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission

Abuja, 28 May, 2002

I welcome you to this ceremony at which I receive the Report of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission. On behalf of the Federal Government and all the people of Nigeria and on my own behalf, I thank the Chairman and members of the Commission for their sacrifices in making this report possible.

The whole country appreciates with much gratitude the due diligence that you have applied to this task in three full years. We acknowledge with acclaim how you withstood the rigours of your proceedings, and how you courageously and patiently listened to the horrors of numerous atrocities perpetrated by Nigerians on their fellow Nigerians. We salute your wisdom in compiling this report together with the recommendations which I am confident will be inspiring.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you will recall that this Commission was set up barely a fortnight after this Administration was inaugurated. The transition, you will also recall, was the first glimmer of hope for Nigerians after passing through the darkest period in our national history. We had been through a very traumatic episode in our history, to put it mildly, and it was hardy surprising, as one observer did indeed note, that the nation could do with some therapy. With hindsight, and judging from public response, the ‘Oputa Panel’, as the Commission became popularly known, has indeed been a welcome tonic, politically, socially and psychologically.

The Commission was primarily set up to consolidate the democratic process in harmony, definitely without rancour and revenge that lurked in the minds of large number of aggrieved Nigerians. The most painful injustice is to suffer without the option of recourse or chance to even air your grievance. In this respect, the Commission did an excellent job of acting as a peoples’ court, with the entire nation drawn into the pains and cries of victims of gross violations of human rights.

In appearing before the commission, I acted on the belief that it was important to come to terms with the past in order to be able to deal with the present and the future. And I am glad that many Nigerians who came before the Commission shared this feeling with me.

This Commission was not set up to re-open our wounds. Nor was it set up to merely compile facts and figures. It was set up to provide an opportunity to redress the wrongs of the past, to give those who committed these wrongs, an opportunity to show remorse and to apologize and to give their victims the opportunity to forgive. The work of your Commission will serve as a lesson to those who misuse their authority, that a time shall come when their conduct in office shall come under examination. One of the cardinal objectives of this Administration has been to heal the wounds of the past and to reconcile and ultimately unite all Nigerians in love, friendship and brotherhood.

After sifting through more than ten thousand memoranda which it received from aggrieved citizens, the Commission commenced public hearings of petitions involving gross violations of human rights as spelt out in its terms of reference. The public hearings of cases by the Commission which covered all the geo-political zones of the country provided a forum for it to partially fulfill its mandate of reconciling Nigerians, and it made very significant gains in this regard. Its public sittings were given wide coverage. No other event in recent times in this country has generated as much interest as that created by the activities of this Commission. Many of the aggrieved found succour in the unique experience of being able, for the first time, to unburden themselves by telling their stories. A good number of victims met face to face with their alleged oppressors, some for the first time in many years or for the first time ever.

It is worthy of note that the Commission made significant achievements in the area of reconciliation during its public hearings. For example, the various factions in Ogoni land, which had hitherto been at daggers drawn with one another, signed a peace accord facilitated by the Commission. Also the Ife-Modakeke Communities signed a Memorandum of Understanding during the Lagos sittings of the Commission and pledged to embrace dialogue in the pursuit of their rights.

When this Administration constituted this panel of eminent Nigerian men and women headed by the distinguished jurist the Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, I urged them to be dedicated, fair and firm in the handling of this assignment of great national importance. They have displayed the highest level of responsibility in dealing with this onerous duty. Today, I am able to say that my expectations of them have not been disappointed. Your recommendations will be studiously scrutinised and what is accepted will be faithfully implemented.

You can see from the nature of the volumes of the Report that the Commission has indeed, gone out of its way to provide the country enough raw material to continue the discourse on major themes and issues relating to human rights, political engineering and other key processes required for the establishment of a sound polity. The Government will carefully go through the various recommendations made and see how best we can implement them in the context of existing policies on the various aspects.

This Commission has brought out remorse from perpetrators, it has brought about reconciliation between adversaries, it has bridged gaps of opposing perceptions, it has drawn forgiveness from victims, and it has evoked public sympathy for the aggrieved. But most of all it has enhanced awareness of how much pain and anguish there is in this land. Let this awareness be the beginning of wisdom for our society. Let us all pray to God that this country should never again be plunged into such darkness that there would be the need to constitute a Commission such as this. And let the conclusion of the activities of this Commission mark the end of such sadness in our society, and that after this we would have not just closed a bitter chapter, but also opened a new one of reconciliation, love and brotherhood.

I thank you.