Human Rights Activist, Deji Adeyanju has called on the International Criminal Court ICC to immediately investigate, arrest and prosecute Lieutenant General Buratai (Rtd).
The convener of Pro-Democracy group made the call in a letter dated 28th January 2021 and addressed to the senior prosecutor of ICC, Fatou Bensouda.
Mr Adeyanju in the letter headlined ‘A CALL FOR THE INVESTIGATION AND ARREST OF TUKUR BURATAI’, recalled crimes committed against humanity by Lieutenant General Buratai (Rtd) who was just relieved of his duty as Chief of Army Staff.
He listed the crimes to include the killing of over 300 defenceless Nigerian Shiite Muslims on the unjustifiable ground that they “touched a general’s chest”.
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Massacre of hundreds of Nigerian citizens of South-Eastern extraction, in the guise of searching for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The human rights activist who further noted that Buratai was behind the killing of the innocent protesters at Lekki toll gate, Lagos, on October 20, 2020, urged the International Tribunal that sits in Hague, Netherlands to arrest and prosecute the former Army chief.
He explained that the move would serve as a deterrent to members of the Nigerian Armed Forces and their civilian collaborators who have made it a point of duty to indiscriminately abuse citizens’ human rights.
It is worthwhile to note that the former Lieutenant General Buratai (Rtd) had in time past expressed disregard for the ICC.
At the peak of the EndSARS protest in October 2020, he urged personnel of the Nigerian Army to carry out their duties without fear of sanctions or litigation from the International Criminal Court.
Although the ICC had on the 4th of November 2020 confirmed receipts of information regarding the massacre of #EndSARS protesters by men of the Nigerian Army at Lekki Toll Gate Plaza, Lagos, it is yet to note whether the legal criteria for opening an investigation under the Rome statute have been met.
