Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari to urgently \u201cseek from the International
\nCriminal Court an arrest warrant to bring Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke
\nbefore the court on allegations of corruption against her, which the
\ngovernment should consider as crimes against humanity and serious enough
\nfor it to sanction her prosecution before the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization also urged the government to \u201cpursue civil actions to
\nensure that all the funds allegedly stolen by her are fully recovered and
\nduly accounted for.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement dated 3 September 2017 and signed by SERAP deputy director
\nTimothy Adewale the organization said that, \u201cThe allegations of corruption
\nagainst Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke suggest the manifest failure of the
\ngovernment of former president Goodluck Jonathan to protect Nigerians from
\nsuch heinous crimes. Your government now has the responsibility to take
\nbold action to sufficiently redress this injustice committed against
\nNigerians, and the significant long-term damage for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization said that, \u201cBy pursuing international warrant of arrest
\nfor Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke in order for her to be brought before the
\nICC, your government would be showing to Nigerians that it is indeed
\ndetermined to match its stated commitment to combat grand corruption and
\nits debilitating effects with concrete and bold action.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP\u2019s request followed growing allegations of corruption against Mrs
\nAlison-Madueke and the recent disclosure by the Chairman, Presidential
\nAdvisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay that the Economic
\nand Financial Crimes Commission had recovered about half a trillion naira
\nfrom her. Several court orders have also seized millions of dollars from
\nbank accounts and forfeiture of several houses both in Nigeria and abroad
\nlinked to her.<\/p>\n
The statement read in part: \u201cSERAP believes that as important as it is,
\nthe recovery of alleged stolen public funds from Mrs Diezani
\nAlison-Madueke is far from adequate to redress the crimes against humanity
\nthat have been committed against Nigerians. The allegations of corruption
\nclearly suggest the exploitation of Nigeria\u2019s natural resources to the
\ndetriment of its people, and are serious enough to meet the requirements
\nof crimes against humanity, thus bringing her within the jurisdiction of
\nthe ICC.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPursuing this case before the ICC would also help to deter grand
\ncorruption and its devastating effects on Nigeria and contribute to the
\ndevelopment of case-law in the field of corruption and citizens\u2019
\nsocio-economic rights, and ultimately advance the right of Nigerians to
\nrestitution, compensation and guarantee of non-repetition. Such bold
\ninitiative would also improve public confidence in the fight against
\ncorruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also urge your government should urgently propose legislation that
\nwould characterise the kind of corruption allegedly committed by Mrs
\nDiezani Alison-Madueke as crime against humanity within our national laws,
\nand thus allow Nigerian courts to directly hear those cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, the inhumane acts committed against Nigerians take the form
\nof grand corruption, and taking away our commonwealth for her personal
\nbenefit, the corrupt acts apparently took place over an extended and
\ncritical period during the government of former president Goodluck
\nJonathan. Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke knew or ought to have known that such
\nlevel of alleged corruption by her would cause or contribute to or
\naggravate the suffering of marginalized and vulnerable Nigerians, denying
\nthem access to the basic necessities of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that such enormous crimes could went on for such a long time
\nwithout any form of redress is an affront to universal human rights of
\nNigerians to their natural wealth and resources. SERAP believes that
\ncausing unspeakable hardships or aggravating the suffering of large
\nnumbers of Nigerians ought to constitute an inhumane act of a nature
\namounting to a crime against humanity, for which the most appropriate
\nforum of redress is the ICC.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations of corruption against Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke deeply
\nshock the conscience of humanity. Stealing of public funds meant to ensure
\nbasic necessities such as water, shelter and medicines for Nigerians rises
\nto the level of crimes against humanity, as this has compelled the
\ncitizens to live in inhumane or degrading conditions, in violation of
\ncustomary international law and treaty obligations particularly the Rome
\nStatute of the International Criminal Court to which Nigeria is a state
\nparty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArticle 7(2)(b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
\namong others includes the intentional deprivation of access to food and
\nmedicine as crime against humanity. Under Article 30(2)(b), a person has
\nintent in relation to a consequence, for example, where that person means
\nto cause that consequence or is aware that it will occur in the ordinary
\ncourse of events.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAllegedly stealing such huge public funds from a developing country like
\nNigeria has not only drained Nigerians of their valuable commonwealth but
\nalso contributed to poverty, irregular electricity supply, bad roads, poor
\nand inadequate health facilities, underdevelopment, conflicts, and
\ninsecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimarily because of grand corruption under successive governments since
\nthe return of democracy in 1999, millions of Nigerians continue to live in
\nextreme poverty, a condition manifested by the lack of clean water,
\nmalnutrition, high rates of child mortality and morbidity, low life
\nexpectancy, illiteracy, perception of hopelessness and social exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch basic necessities are those resources needed for individuals to
\nmaintain their physical and mental integrity. The resources may be
\nmaterial resources, services or access opportunities. SERAP believes that
\ndepriving individuals of basic necessities may cause physical or mental
\nsufferings, material losses, physical or mental injury, or death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP also notes the final report on the Question of Impunity of
\nPerpetrators of Human Rights Violations by UN Special Rapporteur El Hadji
\nGuiss which concluded that violations of economic, social and cultural
\nrights could be declared international crimes that are consequently
\nsubject to the principles of universal jurisdiction and
\nimprescriptibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSimilarly, Common Article 1 to the International Covenant on Civil and
\nPolitical Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
\nCultural Rights stipulates an imperative prohibition against depriving a
\npeople of its own means of subsistence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe essence of crimes against humanity is a systematic policy or action
\nof a certain scale and gravity directed against a civilian population. The
\nexpression \u2018attack directed against any civilian population’ is defined as
\nmeaning ‘a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts
\nagainst any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State
\nor organizational policy to commit such attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe term ‘attack’ is not limited to violent acts. SERAP believes it
\nextends to grand corruption committed with the intent or knowledge that
\nsuch enormous crime will subject a civilian population to inhumane
\nconditions of existence or perpetuate such conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ICC pre-trial chamber issues a warrant if it determines that the
\nsummary of evidence that the prosecutor presented establishes reasonable
\ngrounds to believe that the person named has committed a crime within the
\ncourt’s jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently \u201cseek from the International Criminal Court an arrest warrant to bring Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke before the court…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n