The Rivers State Government has said it will charge the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if anybody dies as a result of the deployment of soldiers in Saturday’s re-run elections in the state.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Emmanuel Aguma (SAN), said Amaechi would not escape the law if he embarked on any act of impunity during the election. Addressing journalists in his office, Aguma noted that Amaechi had made statements to the effect that soldiers would be deployed for the legislative re-run elections.
He said: “Let me tell you, there are court orders that relate to the deployment of soldiers and military involvement in elections. That is number one. Number two, they forget that the world is a global village; they forget that there is something called the ICC. “Our jurisprudence outlaws the use of soldiers in conducting elections; there are court orders that have banned them from being involved in this elections. If they disobey those court orders and get involved in the rerun election, they are acting illegally.
“If anybody is injured or maimed or killed by soldiers in the course of those activities, those involved are clearly liable; the persons who drove them to that point are also clearly liable. “In this instance, one of the persons that has accepted full responsibilities for getting the soldiers involved in the process is Amaechi. He says, ‘I have deployed, I have deployed, I have deployed’. So one of the persons fully responsible for that deployment, which nobody can deny, is Amaechi. So, if anybody dies as a result of the activities of the soldiers, he is criminally liable and culpable for that. That is number one.
“Number two, and this is the very interesting part of it; when that happens, it is for the Nigerian State to ensure that the victims of such an act get justice by prosecuting and trying the person who caused the soldiers to be deployed, in this case, Amaechi and the soldiers who killed people. Where the Nigerian state fails to do so, the persons legally responsible for those dead persons, their relatives, the chief law officer of the state, in this case, Rivers State, is free to approach the ICC for their prosecution. That is why Charles Taylor stood trial; that is why the former Vice President of Kenya is still standing trial.
“They cannot get away with the impunity; the ICC is there; we know how to invoke its jurisdiction and we shall surely invoke the jurisdiction of the ICC if any harm befalls any voter in Rivers State by reasons of any actions of the soldiers. We don’t have any weapons; we don’t guns, we don’t have anything. But we have the means of protecting ourselves. The international community is there; they are aware of what is happening and most embassies in Nigeria have already been notified of the mayhem they intend to cause.”
He raised the alarm that there had been massive deployment of troops in the state. “As we speak now, the GRA in Port Harcourt is almost impassable; there are more soldiers in GRA Phase 1, probably than we have at the 82 Divisional Headquarters of the Nigerian Army. The arena near the Le Meridien Hotel is a totally militarized zone as we are talking now.
But I am sure the commanders of these soldiers, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, would not fall prey to Amaechi’s provocative tactics which are purely aimed at causing mayhem, nothing more than that, nothing less than that. That is what he is in Port Harcourt to do; that is what he seeks to achieve. But, as usual, he will fail. It goes without saying that he will fail.”
He insisted that the state government was only interested in having a free and fair election in a peaceful atmosphere to ensure that the people of the state exercised their franchise. “Anybody, no matter how highly placed, who tries to disrupt the peace will not escape the arms of the law,” he said.
