APC threatens to drag President Jonathan before International Criminal Court

The presidential campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress has said it will submit a petition against President Goodluck Jonathan to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

The organisation said in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday that the petition followed the massive terror unleashed on the residents of Lagos by armed pro-Jonathan groups under the dubious cover of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC).

The ethnic militia groups had last Monday organised a road protest in Lagos demanding the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, over alleged mishandling of the affairs of the commission.

However, the APC campaign spokesman said the machete-wielding and gun-bearing armed pro-Jonathan groups marched round the major streets of Lagos, harassing and intimidating motorists, chanting anti-Jega songs in a manner that gave them away as acting the carefully-prepared script for the truncation of the general election.

“There was a disruption to of the tranquility of the city that warranted the citizens scampering for safety in all directions, a foretaste of the violence they plan to unleash on election day.

“Our investigations have confirmed that the March 16 show was a dress-rehearsal for the main disruption planned for the general election. Lagos, and the entire South-west, being a stronghold of the APC, has been marked for massive commotion that would involve killings, maiming and kidnapping.

“Our findings have further shown that the recent N9 billion pipeline surveillance contract to 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 indeed 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 President Goodluck Jonathan on the Nigerian people.

“As an opposition party we are using this medium to serve President Jonathan the notice of our formal protest of this extreme show of impunity to the ICC. We are aware that Mrs. Patience Jonathan is already on the watch list of ICC. 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.

“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-person-march for Buhari in Kano, it was, however, quick to approve that in Lagos, providing security for the pro-Jonathan armed groups while they unleashed mayhem on citizens in Lagos last Monday, a day that residents of the city consider the most important of the week.

“We are not ready to cower to the intimidation of Jonathan, ahead of the general election. We believe Nigerians shall speak eloquently on March 28 and this brutality on the psyche of the Nigerian people shall cease,” Shehu said.

Credit: ThisDay