The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands on Thursday, condemned allegations by some quarters that the court is witch hunting African leaders.
The President of the Court, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, stated this in Abuja when fielding questions from newsmen after a courtesy visit on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, he said it was untrue that ICC was witch hunting African leaders which led to the withdrawal of membership of some African countries.
The African Union had in 2017 backed a strategy for collective withdrawal from the court over allegation of witch hunting their leaders, but the decision suffered a setback after Nigeria and other stood in support of the court.
Three African countries , Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia had signified their withdrawal of their membership of the court
According to Eboe-Osuji ,“There is no witch-hunting of African countries going on.
“Actually some of the complaints being made have not taken into account the fact that the court was set up for the protection of people who are suffering from some kind of violations.
“And those Africans who have suffering from the violation are not complaining that the court is biased, they are not complaining that there is witch hunt going,”.
He said Nigeria has been very supportive in saying that there is need for the court to stand and to be supported.
He said that Nigeria had walked the talk so if there is a country in a position to appreciate that Nigeria would be supporting the court.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to the court noting that Nigeria had stood to lay a good legacy for other countries to follow that the court needs to stand
“And we are here to express gratitude to Nigeria for doing that. The court appreciated the Nigeria support.
“We are very much encouraged that it took no lesser authority than the president himself signal that to happen for the Nigerian leader to stand behind the court and robustly stand by the court,” he said
The Minister while fielding questions from newsmen said that it would be wrong to see the court as witch hunting,
“I think it is a wrong way to look at it. I think the question we should be asking is have right been violated?
“Should people have the right to have the people who violated their rights made to face some kind of tribunal. That is the question we should ask
“Another way to look at it is African leaders are being tried. Is it justifiable?
“That is all that should concern us and whether 10 African leaders are arrested, the question is , is the process fair, were rights violated?,” he said
Onyeama told the visiting jurist that Nigeria was solidly behind him and in support of the court.
“President Mohammadu Buhari is a firm believer of the rule of law and he has directed that when the matter came up in the African Union when a number of countries wanted a collected withdrawer from the ICC.
“President Buhari is a firm believer that Nigeria should speak out in support of the court because the objective of the court is something that Mr President and his government is believes firmly in.
“This is the rule of law and accountability by the political leaders of the continent and firm believe that ordinary African should have the possibility of having rights defended and upheld in the court of law.
“And the that the African leaders should also be held accountable in court of law. So, we do believe that the ICC is an institution for good and the benefit of the global community,” he said.
He said that Nigeria was in support and hope that other countries around the world yet to join would also walk the talk and also join the ICC.
“We know that there are numbers of big countries, democratic countries that are still not acceded, so we delighted that the court is now being led by Nigerian.
“We will certainly do whatever we need to do to support the work and to promote global justice,” he said.
LAIDE AKINBOADE-ORIERE
