The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation has said that it will send a petition against President Goodluck Jonathan to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, The Netherlands.The crux of the petition is the protest by armed pro-Jonathan groups in Lagos on Monday, which the APCPCO, considers “a foretaste of the violence they plan to unleash on election days.”
Members of the groups – Oodua Peoples Congress and the Coalition of Concerned Nigerians – had taken to the streets, demanding the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
Wielding guns, broken bottles and knives as they moved from the old Lagos Toll Gate on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to Ikorodu and Funsho Williams(Western) Avenue in Surulere, they destroyed outdoor adverts of APC candidates in sight.
The APCPCO said in a statement on Wednesday by its Director of Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, that “the machete-wielding and gun-bearing armed pro-Jonathan groups” harassed and intimidated motorists “in a manner that gave them away as acting the carefully-prepared script for the truncation of the general elections.
It added, “There was such disruption to the tranquillity of the city that warranted the citizens scampering for safety in all directions.
“Our investigations have confirmed that Monday’s show was a dress-rehearsal for the main disruption planned for the general elections.
“Lagos, and the entire South-West, being a stronghold of the APC has been marked for massive dishevelling commotion that would involve killings, maiming and kidnapping.
“Our findings have further shown that the recent N9bn pipeline surveillance contract to the OPC and some militant groups in Southern Nigeria was the elixir for the latest crude impudence of the pro-Jonathan armed groups.
“Indeed, the contract award was a subterfuge for the mobilisation of these murderous militant groups for the destruction of lives and property to force the desire of the re-election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on the Nigerian people.”
It said it was using its press statement to serve Jonathan the notice of its “formal protest of this extreme show of impunity to the ICC.”
The APC campaign organisation recalled that the President’s wife, Patience, was already on the watch list of ICC.
The organisation lamented that “the activities of this President and his wife as regards the elections are not patriotic and very unhelpful for entrenching democratic values in the nation.”
It added, “We recall the bombing of the APC secretariat and the shootings and disruption of the party’s campaign rally in Okirika in Rivers State, where the First Lady hails from with a muted silence from President Jonathan.
“Whereas the police authorities had denied the opposition party its legitimate and democratic rights to organise one million march for Gen. (Muhammadu) Buhari in Kano, they were quick to provide security for the pro-Jonathan armed groups while they unleashed mayhem on citizens in Lagos on Monday.”
The APCPCO said the APC was not ready to bow to the intimidation of Jonathan ahead of the general elections as it believed that “Nigerians shall speak eloquently on March 28, 2015” to end the “brutality on their psyche.”
The International Criminal Court had on Monday said that Jonathan’s wife might be investigated.
This followed a petition by the APC asking the ICC to prosecute her for making inciting comments that could lead to violence.
The global criminal court added that it had begun conducting preliminary investigations relating to the situations in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has said it has no record of any APC petition against Jonathan’s wife for allegedly inciting violence against its members in Calabar, Cross River State.
The APCPCO, through its Director General and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, had said on March 9 that it would send a copy of the petition to the NHRC and the office of the Inspector General of Police, apart from the one before the ICC.
An official of the commission who pleaded not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue, said records of petitions sent to the commission were usually kept under different categories in the name of the petitioner and the “alleged violator”.
He said, “Since in this case, the allegation was hate speech and the petition was said to have written against the wife of the President, there is no way it would have been sent to this office in Abuja without the record showing it.”
The President’s wife was said to have while campaigning for her husband in Calabar told the supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party to stone anyone canvassing for change in the state.
When contacted, Shehu said, “We did not copy the Nigerian Human Rights Commission. We copied the DSS, Police and other international agencies. We did not copy the NHRC if it was cited anywhere that we did it was in error.”
But the Peoples Democratic Party however berated the APC for linking Jonathan to the protest.
It said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that the allegation was a cheap blackmail and a part of the mind game being played by the APC to discredit and scuttle the electoral process.
The statement partly read, “It is absurd for anybody to attempt to link President Jonathan to a protest and disagreements involving rival factions of an organisation such as the OPC. The President has proven himself to be a peaceful, humble and a forthright leader with unparalleled inclination for political accommodation.
“The PDP therefore advises the APC to face its dwindling electoral fortune and shed the penchant for false alarms and unsubstantiated allegations against President Jonathan and the PDP-led Federal Government.”
The statement was however salient on the threat by the APC to drag the President before the ICC.
