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.”
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.
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