Nigeria urges ICC to halt ongoing abuse probe

The Nigerian Government has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stop the ‘prolonged’ investigation into alleged crimes by military personnel against civilians in conflict zones. This is despite well-documented evidence that showed that soldiers and guerillas committed war crimes, especially in insurgency-ravaged northeastern Nigeria. Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi made the plea at the 23rd Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC, held in The Hague. Fagbemi also noted that the preliminary examination into alleged crimes in Nigeria, which has lasted 14 years, was ‘demoralising to the servicemen laying their lives to defend their country against terrorists’. However, the Premium Times understands that the preliminary examination, which was opened on 18 November 2010, was concluded in 2020 when former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda indicted members of the Nigerian security forces of murder, rape, torture and cruel treatment such as enforced disappearance, forcible transfer of population and direct attacks against the civilian population.