Adetokumbo Mumuni
Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is sending this petition to request that you use your good offices and position to urgently investigate allegations that certain high ranking public officials and politicians are among the sponsors of Boko Haram that has continued to engage in unlawful killings and destruction of civil property, and cases of extra-judicial executions in the country.
We also urge you to bring to justice anyone complicit in these international crimes prohibited under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Nigeria is a state party.
SERAP is a Nigerian based human rights non-governmental organization, and whose mandates include the promotion of respect for internationally recognized human rights of Nigerians, through litigation, research and publications, advocacy and monitoring.
According to reports, a Perth-based international adviser to Nigeria, Dr. Stephen Davis, who for four months was involved in negotiations on behalf of the federal government with commanders of Boko Haram for the release of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the sect last April, has named certain high ranking public officials as sponsors of Boko Haram. Among others, Dr. Davis disclosed that a former governor of Borno State, a former chief of army staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria have provided funds and other logistics to Boko Haram to commit crimes under international law.
We are seriously concerned that so far those who are responsible for the grave violations of international law have not been identified let alone prosecuted. Worryingly, government’s initiated probes with recommendations on those that may be behind the Boko Haram attacks have not yet been implemented.
A government committee in 2011 recommended the prosecution of some politicians for funding and providing general support to Boko Haram. This recommendation remains unimplemented as the government White Paper on it published in 2012 has been ignored.
We remain concerned that given the antecedents of successive governments to ignore reports and recommendations of national agencies and institutions in situations like this, we are convinced that intervention by the ICC will bring international pressure to bear on the government to honour its international obligations by promptly identifying and bringing to justice those sponsoring and providing support for the Boko Haram attacks.
Our request for the intervention by the ICC is further buttressed by increasing level of cases of extra-judicial execution that continue to take place in the country. In fact, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) revealed at a public event marking the Human Rights Day on December 10, 2012 that the Police alone had killed 7,108 persons in four years.
Additionally, given the weak criminal justice system and the fact that successive governments have shown themselves either unwilling or unable to prosecute suspected perpetrators of international crimes in places like Jos (Plateau state), the intervention by the ICC will ensure that the truth is told about those sponsoring Boko Haram attacks, and provide the much needed international accountability and ensure effective remedies for victims and their families.
The denial of justice to victims of serious human rights abuses violates the Security Council (SC) Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (October 2000), which emphasises the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for international crimes, including crimes against humanity.
Under Article 17 of the Rome Statute, ICC is a court of last resort, expected to exercise its jurisdiction only if states themselves are unwilling or unable genuinely to investigate and prosecute international crimes.
Also, pursuant to the Rome Statute, the prosecutor has power to intervene in a situation under the jurisdiction of the Court if the Security Council or states parties refer a situation or if information is provided from other sources such as the information SERAP is providing in this case.
Indeed, the ICC following SERAP’s intervention has already opened investigations on the allegations of unlawful killings in Jos. We urge you to expand your investigation to include those that are sponsoring the Boko Haram attacks, and other cases of extrajudicial executions across the country.
Therefore, SERAP believes that substantial grounds exist to warrant the intervention of the prosecutor in this case, especially given the scale of the killings and destruction and the lack of transparency and accountability.
On the basis of the above, SERAP asks you to:
• Urgently investigate allegations that high ranking public officials and politicians are sponsoring and providing support for the Boko Haram attacks.
• Invite representatives of the Nigerian government to provide written or oral testimony at the seat of ICC.
• Bring to justice those suspected to be complicit and therefore responsible for crimes under international law and extrajudicial executions in other parts of Nigeria.
• Urge the Nigerian government to fulfil its obligations under the Rome Statute to cooperate with the ICC; including complying with your requests to arrest and surrender suspected sponsors and perpetrators of international crimes, take testimony, and provide other support to the ICC.
While thanking you in advance of your attention. I look forward to continued dialogue on the issues raised in this petition.
Mumuni, Executive Director, SERAP, wrote this piece as petition to Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands
