A United States (U.S.), Washington DC based organisation, the US-Nigeria Law Group on Friday dismissed the notion that being an Ambassador shields anyone from the grip of the answering for crimes under the International Court of Justice (ICC).
Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe, the Convener of the group which is “Seeking to end impunity in the Nigerian Genocide,” said in a statement that under International Criminal Law, diplomatic immunity is not a bar from international crimes including war crime and Crimes Against Humanity.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday forwarded the names of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs to the Senate as non-career Ambassadors-Designate.
The former military Chiefs’ who are now Ambassadors-nominees include former Chief of Defence Staff (General Abayomi G. Olonisakin (Rtd )), Chief of Army Staff (Lieutenant General Tukur Y. Buratai (Rtd), Chief of Naval Staff (Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd)), Chief of Air Staff (Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (Rtd)) and Chief of Defence Intelligence (Air Vice Marshal Mohammed S. Usman.)
Already, some groups have petitioned the International Criminal Court on the activities of the former military Chiefs, accusing them of war crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
According to the US-Nigeria Law Group, “we note the nominations of service chiefs, two of whom achieved the dubious distinction of institutionalizing crass corruption and cronyism by building universities in their homes towns instead of securing the country from terrorism, as ambassadors.
“It is sad that Buhari is exporting lethargic failure abroad too. Firstly, MG Buhari managed to ruin even a modest step of replacing the failed chiefs who bungled the war on terror by elevating mediocrity and rewarding corruption yet again. Secondly, Diplomacy is not the specialty of Generals. Indeed you only bring in the military when diplomacy has failed.
“For instance, Gen Olu Rotimi was removed as ambassador in Washington after a bitter feud between him and the Minister of Foreign affairs Ojo Maduekwe. Their quarrel was so strong that ambassador wrote to Madueke stating that he had killed ragtag Biafrans like him in the civil war. Ambassador Olu Rotimi was removed shortly after.
“Thirdly, the Buhari regime said that the most recent Nigerian ambassador to USA was not reappointed after a “performance evaluation” although it was MG Buhari who singlehandedly appointed Justice Nsofor as a reward for ruling in his favor in an election case. He was not nominated by his home state. Buhari’s ambassadorial appointments of the ex-service chiefs like Justice Nsofor was despite knowledge of their debilitating inadequacies once again at the expense of the nation.
“While we understand that Buhari has done this in the hope of thwarting their prosecution for war crimes having failed in his bid to appoint a Nigerian to the International Criminal Court, his back up plan is flawed. Under International Criminal Law, diplomatic immunity is not a bar from international crimes Eg war crimes, Crimes Against Humanity etc. This rule is supported by International customary law as well as The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court codified in its Article 27.
“If Omar Bashir as then President of Sudan was indicted and a warrant issued for his arrest, it is unclear why Buhari’s Advisers gave him faulty information that these ambassadorships grant immunity for war crimes. Whatever the case once again the regime’s corruption, abuse of power for personal politics of self preservation instead of national interest is obvious for the whole world to see. One can elude human justice but one can never evade divine justice.”
