Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari nominated the incumbent Chief Judge
of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Usman Bello as the
nation’s candidate to be Judge of the International Criminal Court,
Hague.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) which began functioning on 1 July
2002, is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal
that sits in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC has jurisdiction to
prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
The elections are scheduled for the nineteenth session of the Assembly
of States Parties, to be held at the United Nations, New York, from 7-17
December 2020, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) will elect six
judges to fill one-third of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) 18
judicial seats.
Prior to this nomination, Hon. Ishaq Usman Bello has served on several
bar/Bench committees before his appointment as a Member, National
Judicial Council. He has also handled huge special responsibilities
under the Judiciary including; Chairing Election Petition Tribunals,
representing Nigeria and leading brother judges to attend Conferences,
symposiums and seminars around the world.
As the Chief Judge of the FCT, Bello paid attention to the de-congestion
of prisons in Abuja. He started visiting prisons within his
jurisdiction, releasing over forty awaiting trial prisoners in the
process.
By the end of October 2017, he was appointed as the chairman of the
Presidential Committee on Prison Reforms and De-congestion, now
Presidential Committee on Correctional Service Reforms and
De-congestion, by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the
Federation, Abubakar Malami.
The committee’s responsibility was to lead the reform processes of the
Nigerian prison system.