The latest round of violence began in early 2003, during the lead up to state and federal elections held in April and May (local government elections have still not been held anywhere in Nigeria since 1999)
The Elections in Delta State
Delta State produces approximately 40 percent of
Nigeria’s oil. According to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution, 13 percent of federal
revenue from natural resources is returned to the state from which it came, on
a “derivation” basis.
50 Delta State is thus the richest state in the
Nigerian federation, and control of its government structures a major prize
both for the individuals and the political parties concerned. Nigeria regularly
appears at or near the bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception
Index, and control of government structures in some states can represent
virtually unaudited control of funds.
It is thus hardly surprising that among the main causes
of the 2003 fighting in Delta State (as in 1999) have been disputes over the
manner in which state and federal elections would be run, and the lack of
confidence in the institutions responsible for resolving those disputes and
ensuring the vote would be free and fair. INEC and the DSIEC in particular
failed to carry out voter registration in a fashion that persuaded anybody that
the number of voters registered conformed to any reality of population on the
ground; they also failed to put in place systems to demarcate ward boundaries
according to a process that could be seen to be fair.
The federal and state governments, meantime, have taken
no effective action since 1999 to resolve the longer-term dispute over the
configuration of local governments in the Warri area. The failure of successive
Nigerian federal governments to conduct an accurate census has exacerbated the
registration and demarcation problems at state level.
Election issues triggered both the February and March
violence. The clash in early February between the Urhobo and Itsekiri in Warri
town during the PDP senatorial primaries was over the issue of electoral wards.
FNDIC’s March 3 statement demanded among other things that “INEC should
disregard the fraudulent voters’ registration exercise earlier conducted in
Warri South West Council until INEC/DSIEC are able to conduct a fair and just
delineation of electoral wards.”
51 In a situation where there was absolutely no
confidence that the polls themselves would be free and fair, those who felt
frustrated by the existing systems for dividing up power (and thus wealth) then
turned to violence. Of course, those leading the violence do not necessarily
have any commitment to a more equitable distribution of resources, beyond
securing their own share; but they are able to draw on an inexhaustible well of
alienation from the current regime and its corruption, and frustration at the
impossibility of changing government through peaceful means, in recruiting
those who will fight for them.
Both the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Nigeria
People’s Party (ANPP) in Delta State called for the April 12 National Assembly
elections to be rescheduled in Delta State, citing fraud and the absence of
attempts even to hold the poll in some areas; they repeated the call following
the gubernatorial elections. AD gubernatorial candidate Great Ogburu claimed
that many of his supporters were arrested in the early hours of the April 19
gubernatorial and presidential poll, and called for the cancellation of the
results; candidate for the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) Prince Ned
Nwoko alleged intimidation of his supporters by PDP “thugs” acting in collusion
with the police. On April 20, the day after the poll, armed youths stormed a
private radio station in Effurun, just outside Warri, and forced it to announce
Ogburu’s victory; later in the day, the state-owned radio station announced the
victory of the incumbent, Governor Ibori.
Just days before the vote, the Court of Appeal ordered a
retrial of a case in which two members of the Delta State PDP had asked the
court for Ibori to be disqualified as a candidate on grounds that he had been
convicted of criminal negligence and breach of trust in 1995.
52 On April 28, Ijaw leaders demanded the suspension
of state assembly and local government elections in Warri North, South and
South West LGAs until a “permanent solution is found to the Warri crisis.” They
stated that: “A situation where the minority Itsekiri will be chairmen, vice
chairmen and councillors as well as House of Assembly members in all the three
Warri LGAs will not be accepted and allowed by the majority of Ijaws of Warri
anymore.”
53 The Urhobo Progressive Union also called for the
May 4 state assembly elections to be called off, stating that “the Urhobo
people cannot and will not participate in a sham election which will further
perpetuate the injustice of the past years.”
54 The uncertainty until the last minute as to whether
elections would actually be held and on what basis increased the likelihood of
violence right up to the three polling days in April and May.
All independent national and international observers
reporting on the 2003 elections in Delta State shared a consensus that they
were wholly illegitimate.
The European Union (E.U.), for example, the largest
international delegation to the Nigerian elections, noted serious
irregularities in Delta State in the presidential, gubernatorial and national
and state assembly elections, including widespread intimidation, ballot box
snatching, multiple voting, polling stations that did not open at all, forgery
of results, hundreds of votes added in favor of the ruling party at collation
centers, ruling party control of the election process, and other abuses—such
that “the minimum standards for democratic elections were not met.” Delta State
was one of several in which the E.U. stated that the elections “lack
credibility and appropriate measures must be taken to provide voters with a
truly democratic electoral process.”
55 In Warri South and Warri South West, the local
government areas worst affected by the pre-election violence, the Independent
National Electoral Commission website simply lists the results for the
gubernatorial race as “not available.”
56 Despite all of this, Delta State Deputy Governor
B.S.C. Elue denied to Human Rights Watch that there had been any irregularities
at all in the conduct of the elections.
57Unless the government of Delta State is perceived to have
electoral legitimacy there is little chance that it will be able to resolve the
crisis of violence that surrounded its creation. The level of fraud and
violence in Delta State was beyond the type that can be solved by election
tribunals appointed to adjudicate disputed results: the elections should be
reheld, starting from the voter registration process, taking into account the
recommendations made by the various observer groups. The lack of confidence in
the electoral process, meanwhile, increases the likelihood of violence being
used as the means of allocating government positions..
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
50 Section 162(2) of
the 1999 constitution provides that: “The President, upon the receipt of the
advice from the National Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission, shall table before the National Assembly proposals for Revenue
Allocation from the Federation Account, and, in determining the formula, the
National Assembly shall take into account allocation principles especially those
of Population, Equality of States, Internal Revenue Generation, Land Mass,
Terrain, as well as Population Density: provided that the principle of
derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not
less than 13 percent of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly
from any natural resources.”
51 Sola Adebayo, “Warri
War—The battle in the creeks, the agonies of victims,” Vanguard, March
30, 2003.
52 Sola Adebayo, “Armed
youths force radio station to announce Ogburu winner in Delta,” Vanguard,
April 21, 2003; “Saturday polls—Gubernatorial winners,” Vanguard April
21, 2003; “As Appeal Court Upturns Abuja Ruling….” This Day,
April 17, 2003.
55 European Union
Election Observation Mission statements and report available at
www.eueomnigeria.org.
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