A human rights group, Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ), Monday, asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arraign the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari for post-election violence in 2011.
According to a statement by the group, the former head of state should face justice over the violence that led to the death of 800 people, as well as destruction of churches and schools.
The APC however denied the claims, which it argued were politically motivated.
They will not stop at anything to try to derail Buhari,” said Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the APC. “I can see the hands of the government behind it.
The NCDJ alleged that the 2011 violence included acts of murder, torture and r*pe systematically directed at people perceived not to be in support of Buhari, who ran for presidency under the umbrella of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
The call by the human rights group is not coming for the first time. In 2011, NCDJ named Buhari and CPC’s National Secretary, Buba Galadima, as being behind the deaths and destruction, because, according to it, the two incited the people to violence with their calls before the election that the voters should violently defend their votes. NCDJ however said it decided to submit more evidence after the former military ruler emerged as the main candidate in February’s presidential elections.
We have a lot of very strong evidence we are submitting to the prosecutor, said Goran Sluiter, a Dutch law professor acting for the NCDJ. He said he wanted to ensure Buhari did not escape justice by winning political office.
Buhari is set to run for Nigeria’s presidency in the February 2015 elections on the platform of the APC.
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