ON THE IDEA OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: REFLECTIONS ON KUTI FAMILY VERSUS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA AT OPUTA PANEL

• Published in: Ramon LLull journal of applied ethics no. 14; pp. 53 - 75
• Main Authors: Balogun, Noah Opeyemi, Ademowo, Adeyemi Johnson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Barcelona Ramon Llull University 01-01-2023
• Subjects: Ethics; Federal government; Human rights; Morality; Peace; Reconciliation; Transitional justice; Violations; Nigeria
• ISSN: 2013-8393
• DOI: 10.34810/rljaev1n14Id41377

This piece examines the case of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's family Versus Federal Government of Nigeria on the issue of human rights abuse done by "Unknown Soldiers" with a view to provoke discourse on the contemporary notion of transitional justice. The injustice against Kuti's Family culminated in unlawful arrest, detention and torture of Nigerian Afrobeat artist/human rights crusader, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The study focuses on the effects of his properties destruction, rape of girls and women that inadvertently arrested in his apartment, and the death of the matriarch of Anikulapo Kuti's family during raid at the Kalakuta Republic (his home's name) in the early 80s. The work argues that while Truth Commission Panels such as the Oputa Panel tried to create safe, non-partisan and compassionate space to address the justice question, the honest and true intent of the political gladiators for setting up the Commission was doubtful, ab nitio; hence this created an atmosphere of impunity with glaring trivialisation of violations and abuses done to the family, and at the end it becomes doubtful if the justice for which the Truth Commission was set-up, was ever addressed. It also questioned how truth commissions should be established and operated so as to deliver justice - an aspect of peace studies that scholars have completely overlooked. It concludes that as people reconfigure social relations from one stage to another in their lives, their engagement with the state and the social meaning attributed to social justice, which the people emphasised, are most likely to be affected, and thus change especially within their spatial context.