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]
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: