A law Professor at Calgari University, Canada, Gideon Christian, has petitioned the International Criminal Court, ICC, over tweets from Bayo Onanuga, chief spokesman for President-elect Bola Tinubu, where he made incendiary comments against the Igbo tribe in Nigeria.
In his letter dated 27th March 2023 addressed to the Information and Evidence Unit, Office of the Prosecutor, ICC, The Netherlands, Prof Christian requested the court to Investigate the Election and Post-Election Violence in Nigeria as well as incitement to ethnic hate by Bayo Onanuga.
He made the petition, pursuant to article 15 of the Rome Statute.He charged ICC to conduct an investigation into a series of ethnically motivated violence resulting in injuries and death during the just concluded Presidential and Governorship elections in Nigeria.
He states, “The European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria which observed both elections, in their interim report on 20th March 2023 noted multiple incidents of ‘organised violent attacks’ which resulted in ‘many casualties and fatalities’”, he said.
According to the professor, these incidents resulted from incitement to ethnic hatred by Nigerian politicians and their agents who actively, directly, and indirectly, incited groups of individuals to inflict harm on other individuals from a targeted ethnic group.
“It is on record that prior to the elections, very influential individuals and politicians especially in Lagos had publicly warned members of the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria not to show up to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
“While this complaint is not strictly about the deprivation of that right (which admittedly this Court has no jurisdiction), it is evident that in an effort to deprive members of this ethnic group of their right to vote, these politicians and influential individuals incited ethnic hate that resulted in ‘many casualties and fatalities” to individuals from the Igbo ethnic group including those who “looked like them’”, he said.
