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Rights group wants ICC to probe Buhari over 2011 polls violence

By Adamu Abuh, Abuja
05 February 2015   |   11:46 pm
INDICATIONS have emerged that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague would soon ask the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari to explain his role in the 2011 post elections violence that led to the killings of many Nigerians and destruction of property worth billions of naira.   Yesterday,…

INDICATIONS have emerged that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague would soon ask the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari to explain his role in the 2011 post elections violence that led to the killings of many Nigerians and destruction of property worth billions of naira.

  Yesterday, an ICC counsel and senior partner of Prakken d’Oliveira, Prof. Goran Sluiter claimed he had filed a suit in the international court which Nigeria is a signatory based on the Rome convention, aimed at bringing Buhari to book.

  Sluiter who appeared on Skype goran1970 shown to reporters at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Abuja claimed that he filed criminal charges against Buhari on behalf of the Council for Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ) at about 3pm yesterday.

  Brandishing a copy of the petition filed on Skype, Sluiter said that it behooved the office of the ICC prosecutor to take up the matter against Buhari who is the major challenger to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential elections billed to hold this month.

  Head of NCDJ’s Research and Documentation, Dr. Ibrahim Baba justified their action, noting that they were compelled to approach the ICC when it became apparent that the authorities lacked the political will to bring Buhari to book since 2011.

  Saying that the decision to drag Buhari to ICC was not politically motivated, he said that there was need to stop the culture of impunity and hate speeches which had a direct bearing with the 2011 post election violence.

  Claiming that he and members of his group had received death threats from Buhari’s supporters, he thereby gave an insight on the criminal complaint levelled against Buhari thus: “The complaint set out in detail the background to the 2011 Nigerian electoral violence and discuses the available evidence against Buhari. 

  “In addition, the complaint analyses the crimes within the ICC statute and the modes of liability applicable to Buhari’s conduct.

  “The gist of the complaint is that the electoral violence in Nigeria in 2011 was not spontaneous, but orchestrated and the direct result of Buhari’s inflammatory speeches.   

  “Furthermore, the complaint contains frequent references to other cases of electoral violence which are at present prosecuted before the ICC, Kenya and Ivory Coast.

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