We are ready to prosecute Buhari at the ICC – Femi Falana
Foremost human rights activist, Femi Falana SAN has warned that he will not hesitate to seek prosecution of President Muhammadu Buhari at the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the president annuls the forthcoming general elections.
Speaking at the weekend at the launch of the League of Anambra Professionals (LAP) Legal Defence Initiative (LDI) in Lagos, Falana said that the days of annulment of elections are gone for good.
His words: “I am touching on these (public interest litigation) cases to warn Nigerians to appreciate that an election can no longer be annulled in Nigeria, because the fear has been expressed that if President Buhari is defeated next year he may not want to hand over. I mean, that belongs to the past.”
The human rights lawyer who was the Guest Speaker at the event held at Colonades Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos emphasized that “Unlike 1993 when the Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida successfully annulled an election, that is no longer possible. Whoever does that now will end up in The Hague. He is likely to be tried for crimes against humanity because if you annul an election, you are likely to have a monumental violence in the country which will lead to crimes against humanity.”
Putting a seal of finality on his resolve to drag defaulters to the ICC, Falana who commended Anambra indigenes for leading the way in similar public interest litigation, said: “I want to assure Nigerians that because of the fact that public interest litigation has come to stay in Nigeria, we are not going to hesitate to drag whoever tries to annul an election in Nigeria to the International Criminal Court.”
He also hinted that it was the fear of such prosecution that forced former President Goodluck Jonathan to hand over to the incumbent president, noting that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had warned Jonathan of similar consequences should he renege in accepting defeat at the polls.
Falana who spoke on the theme, “Public interest litigation as a potent tool for redress of group marginalization and advancement of rule of law in Nigeria,” noted that public interest cases filed by Anambra indigenes or originating from Anambra State have helped to shape Nigeria’s legal and constitutional landscape, urging LAP to sustain this glorious tradition.
He said: “More than any state in Nigeria, Anambra State has contributed more to public interest litigation in Nigeria. Apart from the cases of constitutional importance that arose from that state, you also have a man like Olisa Agbakoba who is in the forefront for entrenchment of public interest litigation. Many of the cases that have arisen from Anambra State relate to the consolidation of the democratic process.
“NGIGE V. OBI led the country to go back to the drawing table and amend the Electoral Act, such that election petitions do not last more than 180 days at the tribunals. In OBI V. INEC, the Supreme Court also clarified the issue of when a governor’s term of office begins to run, namely when he takes the oath of office.”
He also noted that cases from the state have helped to heal the hardships wrought by harmful cultural practices on women, citing cases such as MOJEKWU AND MOJEKWU, MOJEKWU AND EJIKEME, UKEJE AND UKEJE among others where female children have been denied the right to inherit from their father’s estate. “The courts have repeatedly maintained than any culture that discriminates against women is clearly illegal and unconstitutional, having regard to the right to freedom from discrimination,” he stated.
On his part, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu also urged LAP to sustain the legacy of revered Anambra professionals such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Jerome Udoji, Prof. Chinua Achebe, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Dr. Dozie Ikedife among others.
In his keynote address at the event, Odinkalu warned that Nigeria is dysfunctional, urging Nigerians to close ranks. His words: “Nigeria is not working for any part of it. We are all united in our discontent with Nigeria. Why is Nigeria not working for any part of it? It is because the country is top heavy.”
Explaining, he said: “In a fiscal sense, we are running and have been running a recurrent deficit for over six years. In fact, for the better part of the last 10 years, we have been running a recurrent deficit. Which means what? All of our recurrent expenditure is borrowed. Some of our capital expenditure is borrowed. It has been for seven years. We are borrowing to pay for the cost of government – to pay for the salaries of civil servants who run government, and their allowances, too. In a geo-spatial sense, Nigeria is top heavy.”
He said that the country is also top heavy economically and demographically, being a mono-economy deriving a lion’s share of its revenue from oil as well as “producing more children than we can feed. In another 23 years we will double our population, but we are not doubling our capacity to feed this population. That is why hate is growing, because quite clearly we are having a crisis of demand and supply.”
He warned that Nigeria may implode if nothing is done to check the situation, adding that the clamour for restructuring must be viewed contextually as “Nigeria has been in the process of restructuring since 1903.
According to him, “The debate over the structure of Nigeria and its ’restructuring’ encapsulates in varying degrees all these elements, i.e. the geo-physical, geo-political, political economy, fiscal and ethical re-balancing of the country. The costs of these distortions are evident in Nigeria’s abysmal human development indicia in poverty (1st in the world); education (most out-of-school-children in the world); maternal mortality (2nd highest in the world); and internal displacement (3rd in the world). But it is in our coexistence indicia and in the resulting fragility of the Nigerian state that the deepest evidence of these costs show up.”
Speaking earlier, LAP President, Chijioke Okoli SAN recalled the contributions of LAP to national development, noting that the LAP Legal Defence Initiative (LAP-LDI) is a new paradigm in public interest litigation.
He said: “It is holistic; it is not restricted to Anambra people. We intend to have, for starters, two young lawyers who will be working full-time. When they go to the police station or the prisons to assist people who do not have legal representation, it will be their duty to offer legal assistance to them. We have our common ‘Nigerianness’ and common humanity. If anybody tells us a story of oppression, notwithstanding which part of the country he or she comes from, it will be within the remit of our lawyers to do their utmost to ensure that they get legal redress.”
The event also witnessed the celebration of past LAP Presidents who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of LAP and Anambra State. Among the honorees were the pioneer LAP President, Dr. Ndi Onuekwusi, Dr. Ikem Odumodu, Dr. Mrs. Katia Ekesi (Ugonma Abatete), Mr. Chike Nwegbe and the immediate past president, Mr. Willy Nzewi.
LAP is a non-partisan organization with a focus on enthronement of good governance, public enlightenment and overall development of Anambra State and Nigeria in general. In 2005, LAP mapped out a 25-year development programme tagged ‘Anambra 2030’ with the aim of attaining large scale turn-around in the fortunes of Anambra State within the stipulated period. It provides a platform for all Anambra professionals to work towards rebuilding the homeland into a world-class, rich, modern, free and safe society. LAP is designed to offer strong and strategic support towards multi-sectoral development of the State by providing the institutional framework through which Anambra professionals all over the world can contribute to planned, focused, and sustainable development of the State.