AFOLABI SOTUNDE/REUTERS


A Biafra supporter cries during a rally in support of Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja, December 1, 2015. Dutch lawyers have filed a case against Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged crimes against humanity against pro-Biafran activists.


The pro-Biafran activist group led by the imprisoned Nnamdi Kanu has filed a complaint against Muhammadu Buhari in The Hague, accusing the Nigerian president of war crimes.

Thousands of people in southeast Nigeria have demonstrated in recent months, demanding independence for Biafra. Kanu, the leader of one of the most prominent activist groups—the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)—was arrested by Nigerian security forces in October 2015 on charges of ethnic incitement and sedition. He remains in detention and was refused bail by a federal high court in the capital Abuja on Friday.

Goran Sluiter, a lawyer at Dutch human rights legal firm Prakken d’Oliveira, filed the complaint with the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Friday. Sluiter tells Newsweek that there has been “an intensification of violence and crimes committed against Biafrans since Mr Buhari became the Nigerian president.”


There have been numerous reports of pro-Biafran protesters being killed in clashes with Nigerian security forces during demonstrations. More than 20 protesters and two police officers have been killed since October 2015, AP reported, with about 200 people detained across the country. Inspector General Solomon Arase, Nigeria’s chief of police, warned protesters in December to stop their activities or face “the full weight of the law.”

“Nigeria is already a long time on the agenda of the [ICC] prosecutor and Nigerian courts are not dealing at all with these crimes. The time really has come for the ICC to act,” says Sluiter.

The complaint was filed on behalf of 17 unnamed victims and alleges to set out evidence of crimes against humanity—including torture and murder—committed by Nigerian security forces against pro-Biafran protesters.

Ndubuisi Osuala, the coordinator of IPOB’s branch in the Netherlands—which he says numbers around 200 official members—says the group wishes to see Kanu released and Buhari prosecuted for overseeing crimes against Biafrans. “What every IPOB member, every Biafran citizen wants is the release of our great leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is a freedom fighter,” says Osuala. “Secondly, we need the International Criminal Court to bring justice and equity to our case…[President Buhari] has to be prosecuted and face the justice for what he did.”

Osuala also says that his group wants independence for Biafra but is seeking it by peaceful means. “We need to get freedom by peace and that is why we are protesting,” he says. “We are not terrorists, we are not killing people.”

Buhari has previously refused calls for Kanu to be released, describing the activist—who is based in the U.K. and runs the underground media outlet Radio Biafra— as a flight risk.

Femi Adesina, a media advisor to Buhari, declined to comment on the ICC case and told Newsweek that while Kanu’s case was ongoing, the Nigerian presidency would rather not comment on the matter.

The ICC was not immediately available to confirm that the complaint had been filed. Once a complaint is filed at the ICC, the prosecutor can decide to open an investigation if there is a reasonable basis for believing that crimes against humanity have been committed. Nigeria is a signatory to the Rome Statute, upon which the ICC’s jurisdiction in based.

Group Calls On ICC To Prosecute Buhari For 2011 Violence
Channels Television.
Updated January 29, 2015


Mr Goran Sluiter, a Dutch lawyer called the International Criminal Court to investigate Nigeria’s presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhamadu Buhari, over the 2011 post elections violence that claimed hundreds of lives.


The lawyer and a group known as Northern Coalition For Democracy, told a news conference in Abuja that there are evidence at their disposal that indicts Gen. Buhari over the violence.

BALLOSKI:
Jokers!








Maybe Hague want to tell us how to deal with criminals on our land. Maybe shekau should head to Hague too.

Progressive01:
Another Ekpa propaganda site. I clicked on the link and saw ONLY stories about Biafra were there, and the op says "Reuters" in the title.

Mynd44, please ban this op for violation of Rule 8.

Lalasticlala, please move this to the trash bin.

Thank you.

Progressive01:
You be confirm Okpa and your brain is made up of those agidi sold at 9th Mile..

Is the site a useless Ekpa propaganda site or not??

Nkita dindinrin.

TimeManager:
OP, i love the picture you put up there, it perfectly depicts a frustrating figure & a wailing countenance of an average lowly biafran. Secondly, the quack of a dutch lawyer is nothing but a scam artist who will not decline an oppourtunity to fleece Igbos to fulfil his tax obligation. I recommend they hire the dutch prime minister the same manner they hire putin immediately after his arrest. Ipob buffoon should read between the lines in the latest judgement of the federal high court pronouncing kanu a security threat. I laugh in biafra. Buffoonery is allowed.
The truth has spoken!

new2020:


[s]You have serious psychosis. Won't reply again...a lot of mad, mentally unstable fellows on Nairaland .[/s]

doctokwus:
Just like Kanu scammed many off their meagre earnings, this Dutch lawyer is about to carry out his own scam.
Kanu wud be an extremely lucky chap to get just 21yrs because he seems to more likely going to get life with hard labor.

xtrorpy:


Rather than clamouring for NK to be sentenced to 21 years and risk him causing you and your cohorts more miseries and deaths demand a death sentence and immediate hanging else you are of all men most miserable.

NK is ready to die for a cause he believes in. Can you and your bigotic folks grow a ball and stand for a cause not to mention dying for one?

doctokwus:

Good for him.He will die a matyr and meet Satan in hell for promoting ethnic cleansing and propagating war.

jimharry21:
Useless hypocritical Dutch people! During the Baifra War we died as if there was no God, we fought and died hoping that help will come even from the pit of hell at least we would have gladly accepted it but no; they all spoke useless English massaging the ego of the blood thirsty Nigerian Government. I have told all who would listen, PMB is not the problem of Biafra! Europe, USA and UK are the real enemies of Biafra because safe for them by the fall of 1970 Biafra would have defeated Nigeria.

Progressive01:
Just click on the link and see the junk site replete with biafran news.

These guys are such learners. What exactly has Reuters got to do with the trash??