Opening our hearts for Al-Mustapha
Fourteen years is not one week, one month or one day. Yet, Nigerians seem unperturbed by the fate of this officer. If the government had no difficulty granting amnesty to former Niger Delta militants, despite committing treason, economic sabotage, kidnapping for ransom and mass murder, one cannot understand why Al-Mustafa doesn’t deserve consideration for clemency […]
Fourteen years is not one week, one month or one day. Yet, Nigerians seem unperturbed by the fate of this officer. If the government had no difficulty granting amnesty to former Niger Delta militants, despite committing treason, economic sabotage, kidnapping for ransom and mass murder, one cannot understand why Al-Mustafa doesn’t deserve consideration for clemency from the Jonathan administration. The argument that the issue is between the Lagos State government and Al-Mustafa, for which the Jonathan administration doesn’t want to interfere, is not altogether convincing. If Nigerians had no difficulty welcoming the amnesty for the former Niger Delta militants, despite the enormity of their crime against the state, including the murder of 14 soldiers in cold blood during security duties in the area, Nigeria will not crumble if Al-Mustafa is granted freedom by the government.
Perception of discrimination or lopsidedness in the policy of granting state pardon is not too good for the image of the government or the unity of the country. Apart from the Niger Delta militants, leaders of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) were granted freedom after their initial detention on charges of murder, including the killing of 12 police officers and men. The leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Mr. Ralph Uwazuruike who was formerly facing treason trial, was ultimately freed as part of a political solution of his case. No President should feel happy if any section of the country feels that it is not evenly treated in the application of amnesty policy. Did Nigeria crash because of the freedom of the OPC leaders and the MASSOB chief activist? We all welcomed the gesture of freedom for former detainees, including Alhaji Asari Dokubo, the former leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, who admitted before the Justice Kayode Eso Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Rivers State that his group had killed more two thousand people in the course of insurrection.
All Nigerians hailed their freedom as a genuine gesture of national reconciliation and healing. In fact, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, the factional leader of OPC, had run several adverts in the newspapers and granted lengthy interviews in which he called for the freedom of Major Al-Mustafa. The former Niger Delta militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, had made a similar appeal for the freedom of Al-Mustafa. The sentiments of mercy should unite a nation rather than dividing it. No responsible northerner had ever challenged the wisdom why the late President Yar’adua had granted amnesty to Niger Delta militants. All Nigerians agreed then that a political solution was better than military action to confront the insurgency in the Niger Delta. Happily, today, the guns are silent and relative peace has returned to the Niger Delta.
The spirit of reconciliation and mercy doesn’t harm any nation and Nigeria is no exception. Retired Supreme Court Justice Chukwudifu Oputa and former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, were among other prominent Nigerians who have expressed open concern over the extraordinarily lengthy trial and detention of Major Al-Mustafa. The sentiments of mercy respect no borders. Regardless of our ethnicity or section of the country we come from, we are bound to be united by these sentiments. The former Chief Press Secretary to the late General Sani Abacha, Mr. David Attah, is the latest voice to call for Al-Mustafa’s freedom. Fourteen years in detention is not a joke and the trial doesn’t seem to come to a conclusion any time soon.
President Goodluck Jonathan should have no hesitation to find a political solution to this issue. Major Al-Mustafa’s case has reached a point where the President must intervene to grant state pardon to the detainee. Obsession with vengeance belongs to men with primitive minds. Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, didn’t pursue vengeance against the leaders of the crumbled apartheid system. His policy of forgiveness and reconciliation has left South Africa better off. Former President Obasanjo had dark motives for wanting Al-Mustafa dead, but President Jonathan has no reason to carry Obasanjo’s baggage. He must carve his own independent self-identity. It is better to err on the side of mercy than to win on the side of ferocious vengeance. If the past amnesty policy for other Nigerians didn’t harm the country, why should Major Al-Mustafa’s freedom bring down Nigeria? We must continue to appeal for mercy for Al-Mustafa even if we shall run out of voice and breath.
Yusuf wrote from Block 9, Abakaliki Street, Area 3, Garki Abuja. [email protected]