BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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The threat by Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, to dump the Igbo residents in Lagos in Lagoon if they failed to vote for Akinwunmi Ambode during the April 11, governorship election is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court, ICC
THE International Criminal Court, ICC, has commenced investigation of Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, for statements made about the Igbo in the build-up to the Lagos governorship election in April.
In the statement, available on line, Akiolu had vowed that Igbos in Lagos who voted against Akinwunmi Ambode, now governor and his preferred candidate, would sink in the Lagoon. Ambode of the All Progressives Congress, APC, eventually defeated Jimi Agbaje, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a highly contested election.
Josef Onoh, son of Christian Onoh, a late former governor of old Anambra State, on April 21, petitioned the ICC on the statement and asked the world jury to investigate the threat and bring the monarch to justice.
In a letter to Onoh dated August 13 2015, M.P. Dillion, ICC’s head of the information & evidence unit in the office of the prosecutor, said they were analysing the situation identified in his petition with the assistance of other related communications and other available information.
Part of the ICC’s latest letter to Onoh said: “Under article 53 of the Rome statute, the prosecutor must consider whether there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed, the gravity of the crimes, whether national systems are investigating and prosecuting the relevant crimes, and the interests of justice.”
Earlier in the year, the ICC acknowledged receipt of Onoh’s petition and promised to give consideration to his request.
Onoh petitioned the ICC saying he believed that Akiolu’s threat amounted to a call for violence to be perpetrated against the Igbo in Lagos in the event that the APC governorship candidate lost the election. He this was in clear violation of Article 20 of the international convention and elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
“Had the threat been made by any lesser person we would have dismissed same as an idle threat, but coming from the Oba of Lagos himself, it was a call to arms and an incitement to violence against the Igbos,” Onoh wrote.
— Aug 24, 2015 @ 11:59 GMT
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