HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS INVESTIGATION COMMISSION REPORT (aka OPUTA PANEL REPORT )

A/ Release of Unofficial Oputa Panel Report

In solidarity with the Civil Society Forum (CSF) in Nigeria, the Nigerian 
Democratic Movement (NDM), a Washington-based pro-democracy organization 
since 1993, hereby releases unofficially the full Human Rights Violations 
Investigation Commission (HRVIC), popularly called the "Oputa Panel Report",  
as ten Portable Document Format (PDF) files as follows:
Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations 
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine

B/  Availability of Report in Different Formats

For those who have access to the Internet, full information about the Oputa 
Panel is available in:

                 http://www.nigerianmuse.com/nigeriawatch/oputa

For those who do not readily have access to broadband Internet, and hence may 
not have ready access to all the above files' URLs, the report is also 
available on Compact  Disc (CD) [ with a PDF reader included ] if you make a 
request by sending a note to ndm@nigerianmuse.com.  Instructions and costs 
will be sent privately.

C/  Un-official Nature of the Report

This report is NOT a leak, rather a determination of the Civil Society in 
Nigeria to spend its own money (rather than wait for government money), time 
and effort to make it available to the world at large.   The Commission did 
its work in the public domain; the report has ALWAYS been available in the 
public domain, but Civil Society in Nigeria had been waiting for two-and-a-
half years (since it was submitted to President Obasanjo in May 2002) to have 
the Federal Government spend money to publish it.  Now that it is clear that 
it is unwilling, unable or incapable of spending that money, we have decided 
to relieve it of that burden.

There are no hard feelings.

D/  Court Injunctions

We  are aware of challenges to the legality of the Oputa Panel before several 
courts in Nigeria, all of which, being so far unresolved, stop the Federal 
Government from carrying out some or all of the recommendations of the Oputa 
Panel report.    None of the injunctions issued from the courts has stopped 
its publication.  We respect the courts in the country, but are hopeful that 
the Federal Government will VIGOROUSLY defend itself in those courts, so that 
the time, money and effort spent in all the nation-wide sittings of the Panel 
will not be in vain.  Otherwise, future efforts to solicit the participation 
of the Nigerian public in discourses, for example the upcoming "National 
Dialogue," will always be met with understandable skepticism.

E/  The Duty of Civil Society and Citizens of Nigeria in 2005 and beyond

The NDM calls upon all members of organized Civil Society and all the 
Citizens of Nigeria to re-dedicate ourselves in this New Year 2005 and beyond 
towards ensuring greater transparency, accountability and integrity of ALL of 
our political and public officials.  The wide dissemination of the Oputa 
Panel Report in various formats - including translation of its 
recommendations in various Nigerian languages -  is a good starting point, as 
well as support for Electoral Reform, and the recently-announced revenue-
focused "Citizens for Public Accountability and Integrity in Nigeria (C-
PAIN)".  

On its part, the NDM promises to re-engage in the dialogue which must 
lead to a New Nigeria.

F/  The Press as the Fourth Estate

The NDM particularly urges the Press in Nigeria to do everything that it can 
to disseminate these transparency, accountability and integrity efforts as a 
public service, and with minimal cost to the long-suffering citizens of 
Nigeria.
God Bless Nigeria !  God give its leaders integrity !  [Amen]