‘Violence is a Recurring Decimal in Nigeria’s Elections’

When the history of human rights in Nigeria is finally told, some women will occupy more prominent positions than men. Abiodun Baiyewu is one such woman, who has trudged on in the battle to ensure a better Nigeria for all Nigerians. A Lawyer by profession, Ms Baiyewu has initiated programmes which have put Government and its institutions on their toes through her NGO, Global Rights. She has led from the front, formidable moves to address election violence in Nigeria and bring perpetrators to justice. She has even engaged the International Criminal Court, to take a critical look at election violence and human rights violations in Nigeria. Despite obvious daunting challenges, Ms Baiyewu has remained in the trenches. Last weekend, she spoke with Onikepo Braithwaite and Jude Igbanoi on several issues, such as why election violence still thrives all over the country, some reasons for gender inequality in governance and the menace of illegal mining activities in Nigeria 

Your organisation, Global Rights has tracked and documented electoral violence at virtually all levels in Nigeria. Since the return of democracy in 1999, almost every election at Federal and State level has been attended with violence and violation of human rights by Government agents, State parties and individuals. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are hardly prosecuted, despite the provisions in Part VII of the Electoral Act 2022 prohibiting election violence and prescribing punishments for same, let alone receive any punishment, and the cycle continues. What is Global Rights doing in this area?

Electoral violence is antithetical to democracy. It belays the very principles of elections that are “free” or “fair”. Unfortunately, this has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s elections, due to impunity. Because it favours politicians and is often the tool of choice for manipulating elections, they lack the will to fight it head-on. Electoral disputes that go before the courts in Nigeria, are never about accountability for the physical violence or the weaponisation of hate speech and fake news. 

Global Rights therefore, set up the Incident Centre for Electoral Atrocities (ICEA) to document and demand accountability for electoral atrocities across Nigeria, placing electoral violence rightfully among the major forms of mass atrocity in the country. Demanding accountability starts with documenting, and that is exactly what we are doing. We take the time to investigate, and document incidents of electoral violence, detailing the perpetrators, their actions, and the response of the State. After the last general election, we published our reports on the weaponisation of hate speech in Nigeria’s elections, titled “Weapons of Lies and Hate” and a second report: “In pursuit of Justice: Forensic Insights into the 2023 elections”. During the elections, we also engaged and kept the ICC abreast of incidents of electoral violence in Nigeria and their perpetrators. Justice will surely be done someday. We will continue to play our part to ensure that when that day comes, there is sufficient evidence to convict perpetrators. We are on a mission to help Nigerians realise that electoral violence and the securitisation of elections are abnormal, and that they have a right to demand peaceful elections. 

From your studies and documentation, which geographical area of Nigeria has most prevalence of electoral violence and human rights violations? North, East, West or South? What, in your opinion, are the causes of election violence in Nigeria? What can be done to stop it? In two years, Nigerians will be going to the polls again, so, this is a conversation that must start early enough now

Our documentation highlights that the most prevalent forms of electoral violence are physical attacks and altercations between supporters of political opponents, thuggery, attacks on voters, kidnappings, murder, arson (particularly of INEC’s property), and ballot snatching. The non-physical forms of violence are just as brutal – hate speech, incitement, and fake news. These occur both online and offline in the public domain, and often incite the physical forms of electoral violence. 

There were several incidents of political violence in every geopolitical zone of the country, and they became pronounced a full year to the last elections. The worst incidents were in the South; in Rivers and Lagos State. As a matter of fact, Rivers State is on record as having the highest and worst incidents of electoral violence for the past 3 electoral cycles. 

There are many factors that contribute to electoral violence in Nigeria. First, we must recognise that elections in Nigeria are contextualised in several ongoing conflicts across the country: religious insurgency in the North, inter-communal contestations across the country, the volatility of the Middle-belt, politically backed cult-gangs in the South-South, and the secession movements in the South-East, etcetera. Secondly, electoral violence has been a weapon of choice in the hands of politicians for skewing election results. The violence provides a backdrop for ballot snatching, the kidnapping and killing of political opponents, deterring people from coming out to cast their votes and general mayhem. Thirdly, Nigeria has very weak institutional structures which result in the non-delivery of public goods to citizens. Therefore, the polity think they would get access to resources, only if their candidate is in office. This makes the electoral contestation a do or die affair that must be won at all cost, and eventually becomes volatile. Finally, the over securitisation of elections by the Government, the culture of deploying ridiculous numbers of security personnel who are heavily armed and conduct shows of force parades before elections psychologically creates tension in communities, implying the lack of peace, only primes communities to prepare to violently contend the elections, or completely stay away from them. 

Several things need to be done to end electoral violence in Nigeria: First, we need strong institutions. As long as our development is hinged on an individual attaining leadership, we cannot make progress. Second, we need accountability to deter would be merchants of violence and purveyors of hate speech and fake news, from continuing to propagate endless cycles of violence. Third, Nigeria needs to put an end to the endemic insecurity across the country. 

There have been agitations to set up Special Courts for electoral offences, including violence from elections. Do you support this call? Surely, setting up such courts would mean that it is accepted that, election violence and malpractice are part and parcel of elections in Nigeria and have come to stay

No, we don’t need more courts, we need a speedy and more just Judiciary. The Judiciary is at its lowest at the moment, and is one of the institutions that needs upgrading to be more functional. It is riddled in way too much drama, than an impartial harbinger of justice should be. Several polls have shown that, there is a trust deficit between the polity and the justice system. No, special courts won’t cure the electoral mess. All other crimes against our commonwealth, are as important. They all must be taken seriously, and our Judiciary improved to effectively deal with them. 

Your NGO has so far organised many seminars and election awareness programmes in various parts of Nigeria. What has been the impact of these programmes? What is the response from Government and political office holders?

Global Rights is a capacity building NGO, and for more than 25 years, we have built capacity on human rights and good governance across Nigeria, particularly in the north. Each training targets individuals and groups who will take the skills that they have acquired back to their communities, teach others and apply it to the problems that they are confronted with, and so you will see our footprints across several States, particularly on issues of mining, community based paralegals, forensic documentation of human rights violations, improving responses to sexual and gender based violence, etcetera. We also host convenings of stakeholders, to dialogue on resolving knotty human rights and governance issues. Our trainings and roundtable convenings, have made massive contributions to building a culture of human rights in Nigeria.  Knowledge is power. The capacities that we have built are making greater demands of the Government, and insisting on a Nigeria that works. We have trained a lot of civil servants and public officers too, and we regularly see how it impacts the way they see their duty to the Nigerian people. 

Government isn’t always fond of us (especially when we or the groups we have trained directly, confront them on their disrespect for the rule of law and human rights records), but, we continue to receive nods of respect from several quarters in Government. 

It seems as if the gap of gender inequality in governance, widens after every electoral cycle. The number of women in the Legislature has dwindled to an all time low. All the talk of affirmative action of at least 35% female in cabinets etc seems to be on paper only, as it is far from being actualised in reality. Why is this? What do you think should be done to correct this anomaly?

The bigger question is: is the gender inequality gap closing in Nigeria as a whole? No. Women in Nigeria are increasingly poorer, the education gap, the lack of access to the civic space and socioeconomic infrastructure has continued to shrink over the past decade. Our political parties are boys clubs, in which ‘selections’ rather than ‘elections’ take place.  The cost of party tickets also knocks out a lot of candidates, particularly women. The proclivity of the major political parties to violence and sextortion, is also a problem. It is easy to eliminate the participation of women, in these contexts.  

The least political office holders can do, is to ensure that they have equitable representation on their cabinets, but, they are apparently not interested in this, and we are all collectively not doing enough to hold them accountable to the 35% mark. We must increasingly mount the pressure, to get more women on cabinets and into public office. We must also ensure that there is greater public representation generally, across all of society.

A former Minister of Mines and Steel Development appointed you as a Member of the Mining Implementation Strategy Team (MIST), and a Member of the Civil Society Steering Committee of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI). Kindly, shed some light on what these bodies intend to achieve. 

Yes, I was appointed a member of the Mining Implementation Strategy Team (MIST) by His Excellency Gov. Kayode Fayemi when he was the Minister of Mines and Steel Development. The idea behind the strategy team was to curate a multidisciplinary approach, to developing and implementing a roadmap for governing Nigeria’s solid mineral resources. The team has a very impressive, high powered membership and we are all clearly committed to ensuring mining works for Nigeria. Unfortunately, MIST has been on a hiatus for a while now. Hopefully, the current Minister, Mr Dele Alake, will reinitiate the team soon.  

The Civil Society Steering Committee of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has been a formidable force in promoting transparency in Nigeria’s extractive sector, translating NEITI’s activities to the grassroots and taking their demands up at the national level. I am grateful for the opportunity to have served on the Committee. While I no longer sit on the Committee, my organisation continues to initiate several initiatives that engage NEITI, and promotes fiscal justice in the extractives.

Why is it that we are reading from time to time in the news that the Chinese are deeply involved in illegal mining activities all over Nigeria. The other day it was reported in the news that Chinese Nationals were arrested in Kwara State for illegal mining activities in practically every Local Government there. They must have local collaborators. Will any MIST or NEITI be involved in stemming the tide of such nefarious activities? 

It’s not just the Chinese, we have itinerary miners from all over West Africa, combing and ravaging our communities for our resources. Resources that should benefit our communities. You will recall that the gold mining-led poisoning in Zamfara began with Chinese prospectors who gave milling machines to artisanal miners who took them home and led to the poisoning, incapacitation and death of several children. We lost more than 700 children in that mess, and no one has still been held accountable for them. 

In our work, we have also come across several incidents of Chinese miners giving artisanal miners mercury in exchange for nuggets! They are everywhere – Osun, Zamfara, Niger, etcetera. Our porous borders are a big problem in keeping illegal miners from other West African States out, and our minerals being carried out of the country without due process through them; but, how do we account for the Chinese miners who clearly enter the country through the airports? How do they continue to evade the immigration and labour radar? Why do they come in as construction workers, and end up in the bush exploiting minerals? How many of them have been tried? How many have been deported? 

NEITI continues to flag the fact that we are losing trillions of Naira to these illegal activities, but, sadly, there is limited resource to curb them, and it takes more than the Ministry of Solid Minerals and NEITI to curb this menace; it would take all of Government and society. If the State MIREMCO Committees were active they would also be instrumental to ending this challenge, because mining occurs at the State levels. 

What about the communities in the Niger Delta, that have experienced serious environmental degradation because of oil exploration activities. Is Global Rights involved in advocating to get their areas cleaned up? Why have they been left in such a horrible condition, over so many decades? 

Global Rights is focused on solid minerals, but, we continue to support organisations and communities that are focused on promoting environmental and fiscal justice in the Niger-Delta. The failure to end years of environmental devastation and injustice in the region, is due to a lack of political will on the Government’s part. Businesses are directed by the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to respect human rights, and when violations occur to ensure access to remedies. Last year, Nigeria passed its National Action Plan on Human Rights. A chapter in that Action Plan, is devoted to business and human rights. We are looking forward to its concerted implementation, and seeing it translated to the Niger-Delta. Concurrently, executives of these companies should be criminally liable for the crimes that they have committed in the Niger-Delta, but the Government lacks the political will to go after them. Rather, they have been shielding them. 

What is your assessment of the human rights record of President Tinubu’s administration so far? There seems to be some uncomfortable quiet in the human rights community. 

When we published Shege! – our report on President Buhari’s human rights track record, we had thought that Nigeria was seeing its worst; unfortunately, President Tinubu’s track record isn’t looking any better. It is horrific. Journalists are arrested every day for doing their constitutionally protected jobs; children are arrested and charged with treason for protesting bad governance;  civil society is consistently harassed for demanding accountability; the courts are lending themselves to the perpetuation of these atrocities… it’s a mess. 

Civil society isn’t being silent. We issue press releases every few weeks now, and we continue to challenge the Government through their agencies and the courts. We are fighting several fires all at once, with very limited resources. 

What are your views on Protests? Would you say the #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance Protests achieved anything? Or is there a better way for citizens to express their grievances?

The #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance protests achieved a lot before, during and after the protests. They were certainly not failures, in spite of the Government’s clampdown on protestors. They called Government’s attention to the sufferings of the citizenry, and woke them to action. 

What was sad was the type of actions the Government took, in response to these protests. Rather than change course to ensure Police brutality ends in the case of #EndSARS, and ending food insecurity and Government’s wasteful spending in the case of #EndBadGovernance, Government organised counter- protests, and unleashed violence through State security assets on the very citizens that they had sworn to protect.

I keep hearing Government insist that, citizens do not need to protest. That is not true. If it were so, it would not be a constitutionally protected right. The right to protest is a constitutionally protected under Sections 39 and 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, and in several human rights instruments which Nigeria has ratified including Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. As a matter of fact, the right to participate in processions, which the courts barred by confining protesters to confined venues during the #EndBadGovernance protests is guaranteed by the African Charter. 

Nigerians organise protests, as an instrument of last resort. Their attempts to engage with the different agencies of the Government, their representatives in parliament and their executives at both the State and the Federal level, are often rebuffed with disdain. The level of disrespect that they suffer from their political representatives and public servants, is quite shameful. 

For six years, you co-chaired the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA), which became the largest civil society coalition on the continent with more than 130 organisations spread across 32 countries. Notably the organisation hosted the National Roundtable on Business and Human Rights; the Federation of Nigerian Mining Host Communities; Rape Is a Crime, an uber site for sexual violence response. Why is rape becoming so rampant and what panacea would you suggest, to curtail this increasing menace?

Yes, ACCA has grown, and I am proud of the strides we have been able to achieve at both the UN and African Union levels. Across Africa we are building solidarity and challenging the status quo on how business is done. At the national level, the National Roundtable on Business and Human Rights, and the Federation of Nigerian Mining Host Communities are making similar strides. Global Rights has done well by leading these initiatives. At the same time, we recognise that the work is a long way from done. We will continue to convene platforms for joint problem solving among civil society organisations. 

The uptick in sexual violence across Nigeria is a reflection of the larger context of violence, oppression and impunity in Nigeria. Every day, perpetrators get away with this crime and repeat their offence over and over again, creating more victims. We do not have strong laws, particularly mandatory reporting laws for the abuse of children and vulnerable people, and so even when hospitals, schools and other care institutions become aware of instances of sexual violence, they do not have an obligation to report the violence or suspicion of violence to the authorities; there are no consequences. We also do not have good forensic labs or protocols for handling evidence, so that, even in instances where reports are made, it is hard to secure a conviction. The responsibility matrix for sexual violence response, is quite weak. We also do not have strong safeguards for ensuring the safety and protection of victims after they report. For example, what happens when a child is raped by her own father? Where does she and her mother go? Where are the shelters? How often do courts give protection orders? Does the Police have sufficient resources to enforce them? 

The social acceptance of rape language, and the treatment of rape as a moral wrong rather than a crime, is contributing the crisis. In most cases, sexual violence is rarely committed by a stranger, and a lot of it goes on in homes, school and at work; and because the community knows the perpetrator, they often try to protect their identity and deny that a crime was committed against the victim and the State. The conspiracy of silence, is aiding impunity and worsening the existing chaos. 

Your organisation is credited to be one of the catalytic forces behind the development of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights which the Nigerian Government passed in January 2024. Tell us more about this, and what has been its impact so far? What did you think about the Binance incident? Some of the high handed behaviour and sometimes, outright unlawful actions of our law enforcement agencies against businesses may have a negative impact on attracting FDI. Kindly, comment on this 

Global Rights role in the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, was really to rally stakeholders together through the standing National Roundtable on Business and Human Rights to support the National Human Rights Commission in developing the draft, and advocating for its passage. We are delighted that the Government chose to do the right thing, and pass the NAP along the wider National Action Plan on Human Rights. Making Plans are always the easiest part of any task. We all must now rally around to ensure its implementation. The Roundtable under the able Chairmanship of Mr Soji Apampa of Integrity, is poised to continue to push for its meaningful implementation by both the Government and businesses. 

The Binance fiasco highlights the complex regulatory environment for cryptocurrency operations in Nigeria, and underscores the challenges international firms may face when navigating such landscapes; and as the world of virtual businesses evolve, except Nigeria begins to define their legal parameters, we will continue to have similar incidents. I personally feel there is a lot we still don’t know, behind the scenes in the Binance case. The Nigerian Government clearly overreached its powers, without making laws on the matter. Beyond the Binance case, the arbitrariness of the Government does disincentivise foreign business from investing in Nigeria. In spite of some growth, doing business is still very tough in Nigeria. It is worse for Nigerian investors.

Thank you.

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