Others whose names were included in the criminal complaint were the former Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Faruk Yahaya; former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lucky Irabor; current Chief of Army Staff, Toareed Abiodun Lagbaja, who served as General Officer Commander (GOC) of the 82 Division Nigerian Army, Enugu State in 2021/2022; former and serving Imo State Commissioners of Justice/Attorneys General since January 2021; former and serving Imo State Commissioners of Information and Homeland Security/Special Adviser(s) to the Imo Governor on Security since January 2021 and over 20 others.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has sent a criminal complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC), asking it to investigate and prosecute Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, and 31 others over mass killings in the southeast Nigerian state.
Others whose names were included in the criminal complaint were the former Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Faruk Yahaya; former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lucky Irabor; current Chief of Army Staff, Toareed Abiodun Lagbaja, who served as General Officer Commander (GOC) of the 82 Division Nigerian Army, Enugu State in 2021/2022; former and serving Imo State Commissioners of Justice/Attorneys General since January 2021; former and serving Imo State Commissioners of Information and Homeland Security/Special Adviser(s) to the Imo Governor on Security since January 2021 and over 20 others.
Intersociety in a statement signed by its Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi and other leaders, said that its Special Research and Investigative Report of May 21, 2023, revealed that Governor Uzodinma and 31 other defendants in the criminal complaint aided and abetted the “mass atrocities including mass murders, abductions, disappearances, acts of torture and burning down or wanton destruction of civilian houses and other properties and failed woefully to act to stop them.”
Intersociety in the suit filed before the ICC at The Hague, The Netherlands, against the defendants stated, “Crimes against humanity are strongly being suspected to have taken place and are still taking place in Nigeria’s Imo State, covering January 2021 to May 2023 and above.”
The criminal complaint was filed on Monday and addressed to the Prosecutor of the ICC, Mr. Karim A.A. Khan QC by Intersociety and the families of the victims of the alleged crimes by the Okeke Attorneys from South Africa, headed by Nigerian human rights lawyer, Barrister Austin Okeke.
The complaint was titled, “Notice Of Intention To File A (Criminal) Complaint And Request For The Initiation Of An Investigation Into Crimes Against Humanity In Imo State, Nigeria Pursuant To Articles 13(c), 15 and 53 Of The Rome Statute On The Basis Of Information On The Crimes Within The Jurisdiction Of The International Criminal Court ‘ICC.’”
The complainants further stated, “There have been several extrajudicial killings, torture, physical assaults, abductions and other gross abuses of human rights in Imo State, Nigeria which include but are not limited to incidences of murder, abduction, extortion, state-sponsored terrorism, persecution against a group or collectivity based on its political, racial, national ethnic or religious character, class criminalization and reprisal targeted against unarmed civilians (in addition to incessancy of civilian house burnings or wanton destruction of civilian homes and other properties).”
According to the complainants, the state actors in Imo State including Governor Uzodinma aided and abetted and are still aiding and abetting the Imo mass killings and other conducted atrocities “as well as grossly conspiring in their perpetration and perpetuation.”
They further submitted that sufficient “prima facie pieces of evidence have been found warranting invitation for investigation by the ICC over violations of the international human rights and criminal laws and norms under UN and AU Systems including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Conventions against Torture and Involuntary Disappearances”, etc.; ratified by Nigeria and that in the instant case, “the Nigerian organs of state and coercive and prosecutorial systems are sufficiently found to have become the instruments of such violations and as such the vehicles used to arbitrarily arrest and detain; torture, abduct, disappear, falsely criminalize, mass-murder and wantonly destroy or burn down civilian houses and other properties”.
The complainants demanded an end to mass killings and property violence in Imo State and the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the state actors and non-state actors involved, including those who aided and abetted such criminals.