In what appears to be a firm pronouncement on Nigeria’s judicial system, former head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar lost a major court battle over his culpability in the death of Chief M.K.O Abiola and torture of pro-democracy activists as a member of the military hierarchy in Nigeria. In a judgment issued yesterday in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division by Judge Mathew Kennely, General Abubakar who had argued through his attorney that Nigeria’s judicial system had sufficient remedy to rectify the complaints of the plaintiffs, has lost yet another legal battle to stop his impending trial for human rights abuses in the US. He will now go to trial accordingly.
Lawyer to Chief Anthony Enahoro, Hafsat Abiola and Arthur Nwankwo, Mr. Kayode Oladele said he now looks forward to deposing General Abubakar in the US. Saharareporters could not reach the lawyer to General Abubakar, E.C Ugwonye as his voicemail was not receiving messages as at press time.
The case which had dragged on since 2001 when General Abubakar was served with summons from the Illinois court as he launched his defunct “Abubakar Lecture Series” at the Chicago State University is now a serious source of anxiety for both General Abubakar and his cousin, General Ibrahim Babangida who had closely watched the case become a monster of sort to the ‘Minna generals’ as they are both known.
IBB’s anxiety stems directly from moves being perfected by human rights activists in African to bring a universal human rights lawsuit against him so that he can answer to charges pertaining to the death of foremost journalist Dele Giwa who was killed through a letter bomb. A civil society source in Lagos confirmed to Saharareporters the Abubakar legal woes in the US is necessary as a precedent to bring IBB to justice before the International Criminal Court over his well documented widespread abuses of human rights during his eight-year tenure as the military president in Nigeria.
In the Abubakar v Abiola Case No. 02 C 6093, the judge ruled after expert testimonies were offered by two Nigerian lawyers over the suitability of the judicial system to adjudicate effectively at the local level concluding that General Abubakar’s alibi doesn’t hold water and therefore his bid to stop the trial was nullified accordingly . The plaintiffs had invited human rights activist and West African Bar Association president Femi Falana as an expert witness while the defendants called a commercial lawyer, Mr. Bayo Adaralegbe as expert witness. The judge concluded that based upon US country reports and expert opinions, the Nigerian judicial system which is rife with corruption and under funding was incapable of offering needed remedy to the plaintiffs, in particular he relied upon a 2005 US State Department report which stated as follows:
Although the law provides for an independent judiciary, the judicial branch remained susceptible to executive and legislative branch pressure. Political leaders influenced the judiciary, particularly at the state and local levels. Understaffing, under funding inefficiency, and corruption continued to prevent the judiciary from functioning adequately. Citizens encountered long delays and frequent requests from judicial officials for small bribes to expedite cases.
This defeat for General Abubakar follows a similar US Supreme Court decision recently in which the US Supreme Court panel via a tele-conference flatly refused to rule on an application brought by General Abubakar on the question of immunity, the US Supreme Court therefore referred the case back to the Illinois court for trial.
The court ruled that, on the evidence presented to it, the plaintiffs have satisfied their burden of proving that Nigeria did not and does not provide them an adequate forum for their lawsuit. The case is set for a status hearing on July 13, 2006 at 9:30 a.m.
Check out the court decision at http://www.saharareporters.com/eLibrary/
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