MAIER AFRICA THIS HOUSE HAS “Maier puts a human face on a disheartening situation that seems remote and impersonal to most Americans.”—Publishers Weekly THIS HOUSE HAS FALLEN FALLEN “Maier captures the sorrows and laughter of a nation that is desperate and resilient all at once.”—Business Week “[Maier] captures . a nation that is desperate and resilient all at once.” “With a firm grasp of Nigeria’s embattled past—military coups, secessionist —Business Week uprisings, clashes in the oil-rich Niger River delta—Maier examines the nation’s cracked foundation and broken pillars.”—Mother Jones To understand Africa, one must understand Nigeria, and few Americans understand Nigeria better than Karl Maier. This House Has Fallen is a bracing and disturbing report on the state of Africa’s most populous, potentially richest, and most dangerously dysfunctional nation. NIGERIA IN CRISIS Each year, with depressing consistency, Nigeria is declared the most corrupt state in the entire world. Although Nigeria is a nation into which billions of dollars of oil money flow, its per capita income has fallen dramatically in the past two decades. Military coup follows military coup. A bellwether for Africa, it is a country of rising ethnic tensions and falling standards of living, very possibly on the verge of utter collapse—a collapse that could dramatically overshadow even the massacres in Rwanda. A brilliant piece of reportage and travel writing, This House Has Fallen looks into the Nigerian abyss and comes away with insight, profound conclusions, and even some hope. Updated with a new preface and epilogue by the author. KARL MAIER has been the Africa correspondent for London’s Independent newspaper and a contributor to The Economist and the Washington Post. His previous two books on Africa, Angola: Promises and Lies and Into the House of the Ancestors, received glowing reviews internationally. He lives in Rome. COVER PHOTOGRAPH: © CORBIS KARL MAIER 4c process - Clear Polyester All art is high resolution on disk. this house has fallen also by karl maier Angola: Promises and Lies Into the House of the Ancestors: Inside the New Africa THIS HOUSE HAS FALLEN - Nigeria in Crisis KARL MAIER A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includ- ing photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permis- sion in writing from the publisher. Copyright © 2000 by Karl Maier Maps copyright © 2000 by David Burles Westview Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 02142, or call (617) 252–5298. Paperback edition published in 2002 in the United States of America by Westview Press, 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80301–2877, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 12 Hid’s Copse Road, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ Find us on the World Wide Web at www.westviewpress.com A Cataloging-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 0–8133–4045–4 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48–1984. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The resilience, the wonderfulness, the energy—Nigeria can be com- pared favourably with the United States of America. I put it crudely sometimes that if you know how to package shit, you can sell it in Nigeria. I want this country to be the first black superpower. bola ige The only difference between South Africa and Nigeria is that here you have a group of blacks who don’t make up ten percent of the pop- ulation but control the economy, while the majority are poor. bashir kurfi This is an example of a country that has fallen down; it has collapsed. This house has fallen. chinua achebe Contents - Acknowledgments ix Preface xv 1 A Coup from Heaven 1 2 Voting Day 23 3 Army Arrangement 39 4 The Ogoni Wars 75 5 The Journey of a Thousand Miles . 111 6 The Faithful 143 7 Children of Ham 193 8 The Spirit of Odùduwà 227 9 “This Animal Called Man” 251 10 A Glass Cage 269 Epilogue 289 Notes 305 Further Reading 311 Index 313 Acknowledgments - The research and writing of this book were made possible in large part by financial support from the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Open Society Institute. Thanks also to the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College London. Among the very many people who provided me with their time, in- sights, and company, I am especially grateful to Chris Alagoa, Richard Dowden, Yomi Edu, Antony Goldman, Phil Hall, Mohammed Haruna, Michael Holman, Nick Ashton-Jones, Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Bill Knight, Abidina Coomassi, Father Mathew Kukah, Dr. Suleimanu Kumo, Bashir Kurfi, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Clement Nwankwo, Nduka Obaigbena, Bayo Onanuga, Barnaby Phillips, Patrick Smith, Ulukayode Sukoya, Mathew Tostevin, Bala Usman, William Wallis and his two an- gels, Ken Wiwa, Simon Yohanna, and Kabiru Yusuf. I am particularly indebted to Father Kukah and Patrick Smith for taking time out to read an initial draft, to correct errors of fact and in- terpretation, and to make valuable suggestions on its improvement. Sincere thanks also go to my agent, Gloria Loomis, and the book’s editor, Geoff Shandler. As always, this book is dedicated to Sarah. B A U W D E U R BEDE M A A HAUSA SHUWA FULANI KANURI ARAB BUSA KAMBERI MARGI BARIBA GWARI NUPE MIDDLE BELT BIROM MINORITIES BACHAMA IGBIRA JUKUN YORUBA BASAKOMO IGALA TIV MAMBILA IDOMA EDO BOKI IGBO URHOBO EKOI ITSEKIRI IBIBIO IJAW 0Miles 50 100 150 200 0Km 100 200 300 NIGER SOKOTO Sokoto Katsina Zango Birnin- Kebbi KATSINA N Gusau ig e r ZAMFARA KANO Funtua KEBBI Paki Koko Zaria Kaduna Kontagora Kainji BENIN Reservoir Tegina Shiroro KADUNA Reservoir NIGER Jos Pizhi a n u Jos Kajama d Minna Kafanchan a K Nok plateau Kagoro Jebba Bida ABUJA Kisi FEDERAL KWARA Keffi CAPITAL Saki TERRITORY Ilorin Lafia OYO NASSARAWA Ogbomosho Offa Iseyin Ila KOGI Benue Oyo Ede Oshogbo EKITI Lokoja Iwo Ilesha r Ado-Ekiti Okene e Makurdi g OSUN i Ibadan Ikerre N Ile Ife Oka Ikire Akure Gboko Abeokuta Otukpo Ondo Otukpa Owo Auchi BENUE OGUN ONDO Shagamu Ijebu-Ode Ota EDO ENUGU Lagos I. Benin Enugu Lagos LAGOS City Abakaliki Asaba ANAMBRA Awka EBONYI Onitsha Ikom Nnewi Bight of Benin Sapele CROSS IMO ABIA RIVER Warri DELTA Umuahia Owerri Aba Uyo Yenagoa RIVERS Calabar AKWA Ogoni- BAYELSA land IBOM Port Opobo GULF OF GUINEA M Harcourt o u Akassa t h Bonny s o Brass f t h e N i g e r Lake Chad Nguru C h a r JIGAWA YOBE i Dutse Damaturu Maiduguri Potsikum BORNO CHAD Kari Damboa Biu BAUCHI Gombe Bauchi GOMBE Mubi Kumo Amper enue Yola B PLATEAU Miles Lac de ADAMAWA Lagdo Yelwa Jalingo Ganye Ibi Bantaji TARABA Wukari TUNISIA MOROCCO ALGERIA LIBYA EGYPT Katsina- WESTERN Ala Bissaula SAHARA MAURITANIA MALI NIGER Gembu SENEGAL ERITREA GAMBIA CHAD BURKINA SUDAN FASO DJIBOUTI GUIN.- GUINEA BISSAU NIGERIA IVORY ETHIOPIA SIERRA COAST CENTRAL LEONE GHANA AFRICAN REP. LIBERIA CAMEROON SOMALIA TOGO BENIN UGANDA SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE KENYA GABON EQUATORIAL GUINEA CONGO RWANDA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC BURUNDI OF CONGO CAMEROON TANZANIA COMOROS ANGOLA MALAWI ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE NAMIBIA MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE BOTSWANA SWAZILAND 0 50 100 150 200 SOUTH AFRICA LESOTHO 0 Kilometres 100 200 300 Preface - We have essentially relations of raw power in which right tends to be coexistensive with power and security depends on the control of power. The struggle for power, then, is everything and is pursued by every means. claude ake s dusk faded into a hot humid night, the orange glow of multi- Aple gas flares danced across the skyline over the southeastern city of Port Harcourt, the unofficial capital of black Africa’s biggest oil industry. A major traffic jam, or “go-slow” in local parlance, gripped the Old Aba Road near the entrance to the headquarters of the most powerful company in Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, the local subsidiary of Royal/Dutch Shell. On both sides of the route, three lines of vehicles, ranging from motorbikes and cars to oil tankers belching thick clouds of diesel fumes, jockeyed to squeeze into one lane of pure gridlock. Seemingly oblivious to the deafening cacophony of horns, young boys bobbed and weaved through the obstacle course of metallic preface congestion, hawking food and drink. Drivers switched off their en- gines to preserve fuel as passengers piled out of minibuses and taxis, convinced that it would be faster to walk. I was on my way to see a Shell public relations officer when the go-slow tightened its embrace on my taxi, a ramshackle Peugeot 504 constantly filled with smoke from a leaky exhaust pipe. The second the vehicle came to a halt in the middle of the intersection, police- men and soldiers armed with rifles emerged from the darkness and gathered around menacingly. My driver, a normally mild-mannered man named John, with the impressive title of vice president of the Airport Drivers Association, was on the verge of losing his cool. The police ordered him to move our car, but it was impossible to advance; neither fore nor aft was there a foot to spare. Suddenly a policeman in a black uniform reached through the driver’s window and deliv- ered a wicked right jab to the side of John’s face.