APQ - APPON PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY

Since independence, a quest for sustainable national unity in Nigeria has been founded on the fights against ethnic, religio-political injustice and corruption, especially during the military dispensations. This concern for the eradication of injustice of the past administrations informed Olusegun Obasanjo’s democratic government to constitute Nigeria’s Truth Commission, popularly called the “Oputa Panel” to hear the confession of past human rights abuses and injustices, and make implementable recommendations that would sustain national developmental unity. It demanded that both perpetrators and survivors of such past injustices should be truthful in recounting the incidents during the hearings of the commission, in making national reconciliation possible for averting national disintegration and sustaining national unity. As one of the panellists of the commission, and with a book: Witness to Justice as a personal reflection on the outcome of the commission, Hassan Kukah recounts the recommendations of the commission that till date are yet to be implemented, many years after the closing of the commission, thereby making the commission to appear as a mere panel for the confessions of human rights’ abuses and injustices in the name of Nigeria’s Truth Commission. Adopting expository and speculative methods of analysis, the paper x-rayed the socio-ethical contents and relevance of Kukah’s Witness to Justice. The paper concluded by commending Kukah’s efforts and concerns in making Nigerians have meaningful ideas of the possibilities in sustaining national unity if the results of the commission are duly implemented, and directs our consciousness in valuing the avenues of justice and the respect for human rights through the expressions of our actions and policymaking in truth.

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