Justice denial frustrates peace moves- Gambari

One time Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nation, Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, has stated that justice and peace must be maintained in absolute sequence in any nation, adding that any individual or group denied justice will not have interest in peace.

Gambari who was also Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs 34 years ago and founder of Savannah Centre of Diplomacy, Democracy and Development revealed that 50 percent of most civil wars reoccur after a period, reiterating the need to establish peace that endures, built on solid foundation with creative institution, saying that such conflicts can also be avoided not just by early warning but more importantly, early action.

The elder statesman disclosed this Wednesday in Abuja during his opening remarks at the 5th International African Peace and Conflict Resolution conference with the theme “Restorative and Community Justice” organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) in collaboration with Centre for African Peace and Conflict Resolution (CAPCR), The California State University, Sacrameto, USA.
Gambari who was the Chairman of the event cited an example with the Rwandan genocide, disclosing that there was an early warning to the G5 countries ( Russia, China, France, United States, United Kingdom) on the crises which was to engulfed the Central African country years back but the world paid deaf ears to it until the worst happened. He maintained that the Nigeria is not bereft of ideas, but that there must be implementation of those ideas.

The Ambassador who was also a member of the 2014 Constitutional conference said that the problem with the country is that there are several reports churned out by several judicial commission of inquiry just as there are several reports from several investigative panels gathering dust at the shelves of the executive after spending tax payers money to set up the inquiry and eminent Nigerians wasted their time to articulate beautiful reports which government lack the political will to implement.

“There is no shortage of ideas but shortage of implementation and conflict surfaces. A lot is at stake when justice is denied. We talk a lot in Nigeria; there is no shortage of talking. We talk at each other but not with each other.

“If you look at statistics, 50per cent of all conflicts or civil wars, reoccur. What the intentional community and all of us should do is to establish peace that endures. When peace is restored to conflict situations, the parties will not return to war. That is why peace building is very important and restorative justice is a key element of peace building that endures. Peace that is build on solid foundation, peace that is built on creative institutions.

“What is important is not just early warning but early action. Action that is proportionate to the threat to peace and security. A lot of injustice is done by justice denied.

“Justice is an imperative on the way to making peace. Any individual or group denied justice has no interest in peace and you cannot have peace if there is no justice because people must feel a sense of closure, the feeling that those who are guilty or accused of gregarious violation of human rights are brought to justice” he stated.
He stressed the need to overhaul the criminal justice system in the country saying that the system promotes injustice which does not breed peace.

“We should reform the criminal justice system in Nigeria. Only the criminals are happy with the criminal justice system in Nigeria. The idea of resorting to self help is jungle justice” he stated.

Also in address, the Chair, Criminal Justice and Director of CAPCR, Prof Ernest Uwazie said that there is need to create an enabling environment for convicted criminals because when they serve out their terms, they still return to the society which has shown so much hostility to them. This he said can be achieved through an all round integration porgramme since peace demands flexibility, patience and resilience.

“I would suggest that each and every one us has the responsibility to try to one one hand hold offenders accountable as much as possible work to restore peace and justice in the community” Uwazie concluded.

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