Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, is asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity said to have been committed against the Nigerian people by some former and serving military officers as well as public officials and private persons.
In a petition sent to the Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, Mr Falana alleged that on account of the deliberate refusal of the former military authorities to equip and motivate the members of the armed forces involved in combat operations, the insurgents have killed about 25,000 soldiers and civilians including children and displaced over 2,000,000 people.
Speaking on behalf of a firm of civil rights lawyers based in Lagos, Mr Falana asked the ICC to urgently commence an investigation into the allegations of the criminal diversion of the security fund of $2.1 billion and N643 billion earmarked by suspected perpetrators, with a view to determining whether these amount to crimes against humanity within the Court’s jurisdiction.
He is also asking the ICC to bring to justice, those suspected to bear full responsibility for deliberate underfunding of the armed forces through widespread and systematic corruption in Nigeria.
