APC drags Jonathan, Obanikoro, Fayose others to International Criminal Court

The All Progressives Congress has asked the
International Criminal Court in The Hague, to
investigate President Goodluck Jonathan and
eight others as regards an audio file which
allegedly captured some Peoples Democratic
Party's leaders giving orders to a military officer
on how to rig the June 21, 2014 governorship
election in Ekiti State in their favour.
Apart from Jonathan, others named as accused
persons in the petition are Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs II, Musiliu Obanikoro; Ekiti State
governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose; former
governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party in Osun State, Iyiola Omisore;
and Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal
Alex Badeh,
Others are Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth
Minimah, the Commanding Officer of the
Nigerian Army's 32nd Artillery Brigade
Commander, Akure, Ondo State, Brig. Gen. Aliyu
Momoh; a member of the Federal House of
Representatives, Abdulkareem; and the Minister
of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan.
A copy of the petition dated March 25, 2015,
read in part, "Essentially, the recording provides
evidence of a clearly articulated strategy to
militarise Ekiti and emasculate the opposition
parties and their supporters as an approach to
rigging the elections in favour of the PDP.
"The meeting was attended by top Federal
Government officials including two ministers
responsible for the Armed Forces and Police.
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who was then
Minister of State for Defence, and Mr. Jelili
Adesiyan, the serving Minister for Police Affairs,
were senior government officials, who actively
participated in the discussions."
A copy of the petition sighted by our
correspondent on Thursday was said to have
been submitted to the office of the ICC
prosecutor, Ms. Fatou Bensouda.
It was submitted on behalf of the APC by a
United Kingdom-based human rights lawyer, Mr.
Olukunle Omojuwa.
An electronic mail containing an attachment of
the petition, which was forwarded to our
correspondent, showed that the same mail was
originally sent to the information desk of the ICC
prosecutor on Thursday.
Meanwhile, our correspondent contacted the
Public Information Officer of the ICC, Florence
Olara, on Thursday to confirm if the court had
received the APC's petition,
Olara, who said she needed to confirm from the
concerned department of the court, had yet to
revert to our correspondent as she promised as
of the time this report was filed at about 6pm
(Nigerian time) on Thursday.
The petitioner alleged that the scenario captured
in the audio file and the events that followed
had elements of torture, deprivation of physical
liberty, persecution and murder.

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