Former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Odinkalu has said that nomination and announcement of immediate past Service Chiefs by president Buhari as Nigerian ambassadors does not shield them from being tried for criminal charges.
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Professor Odinkalu made his position known in series of tweet via his Twitter handle on Wednesday after the news of their nomination broke the public space.
Some Nigerians were of the view that the service chiefs were appointed by the president in order to escape prosecution from the International Criminal Court.
Reacting to the view Prof. Odinkalu said there was no such immunity yet and for them to enjoy the immunity that came with ambassadorship, another sovereign country had to accredit them.
“Briefly, this isn’t exactly good news for the former service chiefs. To begin with, to enjoy Sovereign Immunity (that’s what it’s called) in international law, they have to be accredited to another sovereign as Nigeria’s ambassadors. Carrying a diplomatic passport isn’t enough,” Odinkalu said.
It may be notable that the Prosecutor of the @IntlCrimCourt has decided to initiate formal processes for an investigation into atrocities in #Nigeria, including possible or alleged crimes by @HQNigerianArmy under the command of both the former #CDS & the former COAS.
— Chidi Odinkalu (@ChidiOdinkalu) February 4, 2021
The Human Rights Attorney noted that due to allegations levelled against some of the former service chiefs, a few credible countries would not accredit them.
Odinkalu noted that, for example, a member-state of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) would likely not take the former service chiefs as ambassadors.
“In any OSCE country, for instance, any effort to deploy them as ambassadors would almost be guaranteed to end up in a raucous domestic and diplomatic mess and will be resisted seriously. In all likelihood, they will not pass muster with those countries,” he stated.
According to him, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court had already decided to initiate formal processes for an investigation into atrocities in Nigeria, including possible or alleged crimes by the Nigerian Army under the command of both Tukur Buratai, former chief of army staff and Abayomi Olonisakin, former chief of defence staff.
Recall that on Thursday, Femi Adesina, special adviser to President Buhari on media and publicity, announced that all the former service chiefs who ‘resigned’ only 10 days ago had been nominated to the Senate as non-career ambassadors.
The retired service chiefs include: Olonisakin; Ibok-Ete Ibas, former chief of naval staff; Sadique Abubakar, former chief of air staff; and Mohammed S. Usman, former chief of defence intelligence.
During their watch as Nigerian Service Cheifs, there were several allegations of high-handedness by military officers.
In November 2020, the International Criminal Court confirmed that it received petitions over the killings of peaceful protesters during the #ENDSARS protests by men of the Nigerian Army. Buratai, particularly, was accused of ordering the killings of Shiites and young members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
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