Nigeria is a sick society which needs a truth, reparation and reconciliation process to heal from the burden of accumulated injustices of the past, a Nigerian Catholic archbishop said.Such a process would cure Africa's most populous nation of the evils connected with the civil war, decades of military rule, massive corruption and election rigging, Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja said last week.
"In Nigeria today, if we do not want to deceive ourselves, we are laboring under accumulated injustices that we have perpetuated, often mutually and against one another," the archbishop said.
"Can we arrive at a situation where we can agree to forgive one another on the condition that there is truth and reparation as a precondition for reconciliation of the community?"
The truth, he said, would mean "telling the whole story, instead of bringing in heavyweight lawyers to package lies for the people."
Archbishop Onaiyekan made the suggestion while addressing a forum organized by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission on Aug. 14.
The malaise of the Nigerian civil war and the pains of the long years of military rule are still to be courageously addressed, he said.
"People have been telling their own personal stories as beautifully as they can, selectively emphasizing and sometimes inventing stories of heroism while denying the wicked actions they may have committed,” he said.
“We still have to deal with what happened to our country, not only during the civil war but also throughout the period of military rule."
Coup leaders should have the courage and humility to apologize to the nation, and the nation on its part should be ready to forgive them, the archbishop added, noting that the process should also involve those who are still harboring deep and painful wounds and pains.
Archbishop Onaiyekan said there has been such massive and complicated corruption in Nigeria that "it is hard to see how the route of tribunals, prosecutions and convictions will ever be able to do full justice to all."
Under a truth, reparation and reconciliation process, all graft suspects should be given a general conditional amnesty to cooperate with the process, he said.
"The full story should be told with no sacred cows,” Archbishop Onaiyekan said. The resources that have been illegally taken away should be returned to the people, to whom they belong."
Nigeria is a sick society owing to a legacy of rigged elections, including the latest in April, he said.
The country could not make much progress as long as those who rigged elections went on to enjoy the powers that they had stolen, leaving the people looking on helplessly, the archbishop added.
"Since the [election] tribunals are overburdened and largely incapable of dealing with the situation, it is not impossible to imagine a situation where we all agree to go back and do a proper election. That would entail reconstituting a truly Independent National Electoral Commission," he said.
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