Post-election Violence: More Evidence Submitted Against Buhari At ICC

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Counsel representing a Coalition of Northern Civil Society Organisations at the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC), Professor Goran Sluiter, on Thursday, filed supplementary evidence against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, over his alleged role in 2011 post-election violence.

Sluiter, who spoke on live telephone from Hague, headquarters of the court, during a news conference in Abuja, said the full version of the case of over 66 pages with the supplementary evidence, including video clips, were submitted to the prosecutor at about 3.00p.m on Thursday.

Secretary General, Documentation and Research, Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice, Dr Ibrahim Baba, who addressed the news conference, insisted that Buhari must be prosecuted to serve as deterrent. The group will pursue the case until it reaches a logical conclusion, despite death threats from the supporters of Buhari, he added.

According to him, supplementary evidence would complement a previous ICC filing submitted by the NCDJ in May, 2011. The evidence had been submitted for forensic investigation.

Baba added that the group had overwhelming evidence to prosecute Buhari at the ICC for allegedly instigating the 2011 post-election violence that claimed the lives of about 800 people.

He said an international human rights lawyer, Professor Goran Sluiter, a partner at the Amsterdam law firm of Prakken d’Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers, was engaged to immediately commence the process of prosecution at the ICC.

Baba noted that since the Federal Government had not demonstrated political will to prosecute Buhari, the groups had to approach the court because Nigeria was a signatory to international laws.

Baba said dragging Buhari to ICC was not politically motivated as the case had been pending since 2011 “because we could not influence the case to be expeditiously dispensed.”

He said there was no need to keep silent to allow reoccurrence of similar violence in this election. He said categorically that the post-election violence in 2011 was not spontaneous but as a result of the inflammatory statements by Buhari.

“Based on the available evidence, there are compelling reasons to believe that crimes against humanity; including murder, torture, rape; forcible population transfer, persecution and other inhuman acts, were committed in the context of the politically-motivated sectarian violence that immediately followed the Nigerian presidential elections of April, 2011.

“Due to the seriousness of these crimes, the lack of adequate response by the Nigerian authorities, the prosecutor of the ICC will be asked to conduct investigations into the alleged acts and their perpetrators, in state, General Muhammadu Buhari.”

He said the evidence collected to date strongly suggested that the highly inflammatory public comments made by Buhari prior to, during and immediately following the elections led directly to the deaths of over 800 people and the displacement of more than 65,000 individuals in April, 2011.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Yes, time does not run against the state in criminal offences. Therefore Buhari can be properly charged and prosecuted for his genocide in 2011. He caused the murder of innocent souls in 2011. Let him face the music in 2015. That is rule of law for you. Nigerian presidency for him now is a lofty and elusive ambition.

  2. Dear Brethren,

    A Pharoah will take us back to the land of Egypt, where we will become slaves again (apart from the few who will be his associates and collaborators), whilst all others will be whipped into order, slammed into jails without due process and will have to bow down to the Pharaoh. 

    The Pharaoh’s tribe and religion will be super-imposed upon all, as the born to rule superiority complex will override all other tribes and religion/s.

    Some slaves may want to go back to Egypt again, to be slave masters, as they see gains lording it over other slaves, but the majority of the other slaves want their own freedom and will rather take their destiny into their own hands, serving their own living GOD.

    A Moses is no Saint and has his faults, but like Moses, he is leading the slaves to cross the red sea and then take the slaves into their promised land, a desert, flowing with milk and honey.

    To be able to get to the promised land, the slaves have to first cross the red sea, and need Moses.

    However, we are at a cross road and need to decide between a Pharaoh who will take us back as slaves into the land of Egypt, or a Moses who will help the slaves cross the red sea, into the promised land.

    Spiritually, we all have to decide if we want Pharaoh and to go back as slaves to the land of Egypt, or we can chose Moses, who has his faults, but who is already taking us to cross the red sea and is trying to help us cross into the promised land.