The strategic nexus of high level corruption, a militarized “democracy and state complicity in civilian massacres has convinced Biafran activists the Nigerian state is incapable of protecting their civil rights

State Complicity in Violence

• During the Jos massacre of 2001, arms and ammunitions used by Islamic militants supplied by Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji Muazu, the former Police Commissioner in Plateau State, among others

• State sponsored terrorism has now assumed a different dimension reminiscent of the events leading up to the 1967 civil war

• Only in a failed state would allegedly legitimate authorities sponsor terrorism against its own citizens

Militarization of Law Enforcement

• Since the beginning of the Obasanjo Administration, supposedly a democracy, the use of military force to crush civilian populations, following attacks by militant youths or criminal elements has intensified

• October 12, 2001: Soldiers opened fire on villagers in central Nigeria and razed four communities, along the border between Benue and Taraba states near the place where the bodies of 19 soldiers were found hacked to death. More than 200 people killed.  Over 100,000 refugees created by military action

• November 1999: Odi Village: Invaded and razed by the Nigerian Army following the kidnap and murder of a dozen Nigerian Police Force officers

High Level Corruption

• In 2001, Nigeria was ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries by Transparency International, a Berlin-based NGO

• Corruption related to the upcoming 2003 general elections intensifying.  According to NGO groups, contractors are being asked to set aside 20% of the value of a Federal contract to pay for the President and his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) re-election