By Tobias Lengnan Dapam with agency report
A non-profit organisation has dragged President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his cabinet may to the International Criminal Court (ICC), for alleged ‘complicity’ in the Boko Haram narrative, an online news source, PremiumTimes has said.
The group, #NigeriaUnite, based in the United States, in a petition sent to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General on September 25, demanded that the United Nations step in to investigate and ultimately prosecute Nigerian state actors for involvement in the shady $9.3 million arms deal with an unlicensed South African gun runner.
The money is currently held by the South African government on suspicion that it was laundered.
The group also said it wants the ICC to investigate several politicians in the country who have been named as sponsors of the Boko Haram sect, as well as human rights violations by state actors battling the insurgents in northern Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian security forces have also been indicted by international organisations for violating rights of citizens while claiming terror war.
“The United Nations, as a global body for peace and security must take urgent and holistic measures to investigate these issues for the peace and security of a population that is unjustifiably placed under siege and indiscriminately attacked and displaced,” the group’s petition, which has been acknowledged by the UN, said.
Since Boko Haram began its deadly insurgency in 2010, more than 10,000 Nigerians – mostly civilians, women and children – have been murdered while hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
The group alleges that the Nigerian government has been “lacklustre” in confronting the insurgents, and has in most cases denied the gravity of the challenge, leaving many communities in agony, trauma and devastation.
The petition is expected to be subjected to hearings and investigations before the ICC presses charges.
The Presidency could not be reached for comments. Telephone calls to his spokesman, Reuben Abati, were neither answered nor returned.
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