[allAfrica.com] [AED_Fundraising_Gala_Dinner_2004] The Plateau Unity And Reconciliation Bill Daily Champion (Lagos) OPINION October 25, 2004 Posted to the web October 26, 2004 Lagos Addressed to Chief Adolphus Wabara, President of the Senate, signed by President Olusegun Obasanjo and dated October 7, 2004. YOU will recall that on the 18th day of May 2004, I was constrained as a last resort to impose a State of Emergency in Plateau State through the instrumentality of the constitutional provision relating thereto. The action was necessary at the relevant time in order to halt the spate of violence, and destruction of lives and property; to restore law and order; and to restore confidence to the people in the ability of government to provide adequate security. In furtherance of the requisite constitutional provisions, an Administrator was appointed for the State in the person of Major-General M.C. Alli (Rtd) to administer the affairs of the State for six months in the first instance. He was accordingly charged with the responsibility to engage the cooperation of all peace-loving people (within and outside the State) to restore peace, promote democratic values and enshrine the values of transparency, accountability, social justice, love, good neighbourliness and good governance. Upon his assumption of office, the Administrator designed a comprehensive Peace Programme which has so far recorded appreciable progress on the path to the restoration of peace in Plateau State. The strategy outlined in the programme included an immediate cease-fire throughout the State and the cessation of violent hostilities; the restoration of calm and promotion of dialogue between interest groups and stakeholders as a means of conflict resolution, resettlement of internally displaced persons; and the restoration; of the integrity and respect for the rule of law. Plateau Peace Conference As a necessary and important part of the peace process, the Administrator convened the Plateau Peace Conference, 2004, comprising representatives from all ethnic groups including other interest groups and stakeholders with the following objectives: i. to provide the opportunity for every ethnic group to bring to light real and perceived grievances and disagreements; ii. to avail the opportunity to such groups and other stakeholders to contribute directly to the peace process; iii. to create a forum for the people of Plateau State where contending issues would be openly presented and debated; iv. to attempt to find lasting solutions to the lingering problems that had precipitated crisis in the State, and v. to establish, by consensus, the yardstick for peaceful co-existence between the various ethnic and religious groups in the State to serve as a reference point for future generations and the nation at large. The Conference was declared open by me on the 19th day of August 2004 and commenced its deliberations. It concluded its assignment within the given timeframe and was formally adjourned on the 21st day of September 2004 by the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The Conference was tremendously successful and its Report has been forwarded to the Administrator. Reconciliation Commission (and the Amnesty Committee) To complement the gains of the Peace Conference, the next stage of the peace process is the establishment of a Reconciliation Commission for the State. The aim of this Commission is to consolidate and promote unity and reconciliation among the citizens of Plateau State, and reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of crimes in the course of past conflicts. It is no gainsaying that peace and reconciliation do not constitute an event but rather the components of a process. I do believe that reconciliation, based on falsehood and on not facing up to reality, is not true reconciliation and will not last. It is only on the basis of truth that true reconciliation can take place. The objectives of the Plateau Reconciliation Commission, therefore, will be as follows: i. to establish as complete a picture as possible of the causes, nature and extent of the gross violations of human rights which were committed during the period from June 2000 to May 2004, including the antecedents, circumstances, factors and context of such violations as well as the perspectives of the victims and the motives and perspectives of the persons responsible for the commission of the violations, by conducting investigations and holding hearings; ii. to facilitate the recommendation of granting of amnesty, reprieve or forgiveness to persons who make full disclosure of all the relevant facts relating to acts committed in the course of the conflicts; iii. to establish and make known the fate or whereabouts of victims and to restore the human and civil dignity of such victims by granting them an opportunity to relate their own accounts of the violations of which they are victims; iv. to inquire into the question whether such violations were the product of deliberate state policy or the policy of any organs, institutions, individuals or whether they arose from abuse by the state officials of their office or whether they were the acts of any political organisation or other groups or individuals; (v) to recommend measures which may be taken to redress past injustices and to prevent or forestall future violations or abuses of human rights. Justice, and punishment serve different objectives: they can be restorative, rehabilitative, and retributive or act as a deterrent. It is my view that the prologned nature of the conflicts in Plateau State and the extensive number of alleged perpetrators of violations in the course of those conflicts makes the combination of truth, forgiveness, reprieve, amnesty and reconciliation a more desirable option, in the first instance, to retributive criminal justice. The work of the Commission is intended, therefore, to also resolve the attendant challenges arising from: (a) the difficulty of successfully prosecuting offenders against whom there may be insufficient evidence (b) the lengthy delays and high cost of litigation, and (c) the need to promote reconciliation and unity through the telling of the truth about human rights abuses. It is in the light of the foregoing that I hereby forward to you a Bill To Make Provision For The Plateau State Unity and Reconciliation Law, 2004 for further deliberation and subsequent passage into law in accordance with Section 11(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.   ===============================================================================  Copyright © 2004 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ===============================================================================