BIAFRA WRITERS: ICC INVESTIGATION: DRAWING THE ATTENTION OF PROSECUTOR FATOU BENSOUDA TO THE PLIGHT OF BIAFRANS IN NIGERIA.

Fatou Bensouda ICC Prosecutor

It is a known fact that the victim-based provision within the Rome Statute provide victims with the opportunity to have their voices heard and to obtain, where appropriate, some form of reparations for their suffering. It is through this balance of retributive and restorative justice that is believed, will enable the International Criminal Court(ICC) to not only bring criminals to justice but also to help the victims themselves rebuild their lives.
Biafrans on the other side has been the victims of war crimes including state-sponsored terrorism committed against them by the combined team of the Nigerian Police Force(NPF) headed by Inspector General Solomon Arase, his military counterpart super-headed by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai and the Navy on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Following the arrival of the delegation from the office of the ICC Prosecutor, Madam Fatou Bensouda, in Abuja on Wednesday to investigate various cases of crimes against humanity filed against Nigeria at The Hague, Biafrans deems it pertinent to once again remind the Prosecutor of the innumerable injustices, persecution, violation of human rights and other crimes against humanity meted out on them by the Nigerian government through President Buhari using the country's armed forces in the heinous perpetration of this crimes.

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Contrary to the false claims by Nigeria's Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, that the Nigerian government upholds the highest standards of human rights in the conduct of its affairs and also his claims that the Nigerian army, which Amnesty International has found culpable in their execution of duties, conducts its operations in a highly professional manner with the best practices of international human rights, it is no longer news that the increased spate of human rights abuses and violation, neglect, perversion and obstruction of justice, coupled with inhumane treatment and persecution by the Nigerian armed forces has been the hallmark of the incumbent administration of President Buhari.

Without mincing words, the Nigerian military and other combined security forces under President Buhari, with no modicum or tinge of doubt, has carried out various nefarious atrocities, brutality and war crimes against Pro-Biafra agitators in the country's Eastern region. Following the Rome Statute under the ICC implementing legislation for crimes against humanity, President Buhari using his Militia/Janjaweed Nigeria's armed forces has perpetrated heinous war crimes and serious violation of human rights through their violent disposition and treatment meted out on Biafrans agitating for their liberation under the law.

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Evidences abound showing that the Nigerian President committed crimes of genocide, persecution, inhumane treatment and abuse of the rights of Biafrans in the Eastern region, which manifested by his zero tolerance for dissenting views and rights of self-determination when he declared that he will not tolerate Biafra in an exclusive interview he granted to Aljazeera in which he refused watching video clips of evidence of his murderous squads' killings of Biafrans.

There are also reasonable grounds occasioned by solid proofs to believe that Buhari bears criminal responsibility in relation to acts of genocide, and perpetration of war crimes and human rights abuse against Biafrans. He masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part, the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) agitating for their liberation, on account of their ethnicity, the continued illegal incarceration of their Leader, Nnamdi Kanu despite several court orders for his release and the Nepalm bombing of Cross-River/Calabar creeks sometime last year.

Over the months, beginning from 30th August, 2015, the Militia/Janjaweed of the Nigerian armed forces have attacked and murdered Pro-Biafra protesters, some killed and dumped or buried in burrow pits or shallow graves, while some were uprooted and/or abducted from their homes or streets and locked away in various detention cells across the country and later executed, in an attempt to intimidate them into denouncing or abandoning the self-determination struggle. By seeking to prevent the truth about these crimes from being revealed, concealing his crimes under the guise of 'maintaining the territorial integrity' of Nigeria, Buhari made possible the commission of further crimes through the actions of his lawless autonomous militia. He provided and promoted impunity for them to commit acts of genocide and extermination against Biafrans.

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Buhari's intents to commit genocide against Biafrans became clear with the well-coordinated attacks on Biafrans picketing at Onitsha Head Bridge last year December and recently on 9th of February, 2016 at Ngwa National High School, Aba in which more than 22 Biafrans who had gathered to pray where murdered in cold blood, taking others to unknown destinations, while some of their corpses were discovered in a borrow pit. He mobilized the State security apparatus including the Army, Police, Navy and Intelligent Services to commit war crimes against Biafrans peacefully exercising their rights to demonstration in the Eastern states of the Federation.

He launched a wide spread of systematic attacks and terror against Biafrans and other civilians perceived to be supporting the struggle for an independent state, using the combined armed forces to crush Pro-Biafra protesters with violent means and persecutory crimes.
Therefore, I am charging the ICC Prosecutor, Madam Bensouda, to note that in-dept and thorough investigation into this crimes are paramount and that these investigations is about obtaining justice for the many hundreds of victims of violence, terror, persecution, war crimes and abuse, ensuring that there is no room for impunity to those responsible for these crimes, regardless of their power and position.
We hope that your independent and impartial pursuit to hold those most responsible or culpable for these crimes irrespective of their social strata, political affiliation, or side, remains firm and not faltered.

Written By Chukwuemeka Chimerue U.
Published By Nwosu C.S
For Biafra Writers