THE BILL FOR AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL GRAZING RESERVE (ESTABLISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT) COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION AND CONTROL OF NATIONAL GRAZING RESERVES AND STOCK ROUTES AND OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH, IS A BID TO LEGISLATE THE SULTANATE OF NIGERIA INTO BEING!
Sub-Theme: The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and Slavery are mental states - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
The Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of National Grazing Reserve (Establishment and Development) Commission for the Preservation and Control of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes and other Matters Connected therewith, which has passed through the second reading in the National Assembly is one of the biggest affront the Muslim Hausa-Fulani has inflicted on Nigeria since 1914. Reason is in the intention of Bill, which is a desperation to effectively convert Nigeria to the Sultanate of Nigeria. This Bill is a re-incarnation of Senate Bill No. SB. 114 and House Bill No. 11.10.30 with same title killed by patriots after Second Reading in 2011.
The genealogy of the Muslim Hausa-Fulani movement to effectuate the Sultanate of Nigeria is as follows:
The Tiv riots of the 1960s was as a result of the well-organized Tiv resistance to Islamization. Chief Joseph Sarwuan Tarka effectively led that struggle under the political organization United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC). Unfortunately he joined the oligarchy to fight Biafra and after the war lost focus. He thought that the Middle-Belt travail was over with the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello and the Middle-Belt sitting on the same table to share the booty of defeating Biafra. He was caught down to size and died on 30th March 1980, perhaps with a lot of lesson learnt.
The Western Nigeria crisis of 1961-66 was the Yoruba dimension of that scheme - the Action Group crisis, the Coker Commission of Inquiry, the treasonable felony trial and the Chief Obafemi Awolowo conviction, imprisonment and the shenanigans of the Chief Justice of Nigeria - Sir Adetokunbo Ademola to trade with Awo's physical confinement with the psychological; the rigged 1964-65 federal and regional elections in Western Nigeria; the revolt in operation wetie; and the January 1966 coup d'état which halted Nigeria's slide.
The May riots of 1966, the kill-back coup of July 1966, the pogrom of October/November 1966, the denial of federal allocation and relief for 1.129 million internally displaced persons who escaped from the killing fields of the rest of Nigeria to Eastern Nigeria as refugees; other denials that provoked and drove Eastern Nigeria to rebellion into Biafra, thereby giving the oligarchy the opportunity to teach the East a lesson for daring to halt the move to colonise Nigeria; the 1967-70 Jihad (otherwise branded Civil War, even though everything about the war was uncivil); and the ultimate victimization of the SouthEast to permanently silence the zone's opposition to the Islamization project.
The empowerment of charlatans in the South-East to confuse the politics of the zone.
The 1986 unilateral entry of Nigeria into the OIC ( Organization of Islamic Conference, later Cooperation) - an Organization formed in 1969 by the Islamic world to fight Israel for the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam third holiest site (lost in the 1967 Six-Day War); in spite of the over 55% Nigerians who are Christians and traditional worshippers Who have no grouse with Israel
The Federal Government-sponsored Abuja1989 Islam-in-Africa Conference Resolutions most of which ignored the multi-religious nature and Constitution of Nigeria and set the ball rolling for the overt efforts at Islamization of Nigeria; some of the most outrageous of the resolutions being:
To eradicate in all its forms and ramifications all non-Muslim religions in member nations (such religions shall include Christianity, Ahmadiyya and other tribal modes of worship unacceptable to Muslims);
(b) To ensure the appointment of only Muslims into strategic national and international posts of member nations;
(c) To ensure that only Muslims are elected to all political posts of member countries;
(d)To support the establishment and application of the Shari'a to all Muslims;
(e)To ensure the declaration of Nigeria (the 24th African and World member of the OIC) a Federal Islamic Sultanate at a convention on any day from 28th March 1990, with the Sultan of Sokoto enthroned the Sultan and Supreme Sovereign of Nigeria;
(f) To ensure the ultimate replacement of all western forms of legal and judicial systems with the Shari'a in all member nations before the next Islam in Africa Conference.
In addition hundreds of millions of USDollars of Nigeria's resources were invested by General Babangida in the Conference, it's Abuja permanent headquarters and the London operations office.
7. General Sani Abacha unilateral registration of Nigeria as a member of D-8 (Developing-8), an organization formed in 1996 for development "cooperation among major Muslim developing countries" - Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey and Nigeria.
8. As a follow-up to the Abuja Islam-in-Africa 1989 Conference, the 1999/2000 proclamation of Sharia in Twelve States of the North in clear contravention of Section 10 of Nigeria's Constitution which states: The government of The Federation or a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion. This was greeted by riots and President Obasanjo who was installed by the oligarchy reneged in his duty to crush the obvious rebellion against the Nigerian Constitution. Instead, he rationalized his lack of political will to defend the Constitution by declaring the Sharia proclamation political. Of course it is ordinarily known that Islam is a highly political Religion whose Doctrine demands total possession of body and soul of adherents;and is territorial, requiring to regulate life totally in any geographical space where it reigns. This the reason behind the permanent turmoil in Nigeria. Saudi Arabia and all other fundamentalist Islamic States adopt Quran, the Holy Book of Islam and Sharia Law as their organic law.
9. Proclamation of Sharia in Nigeria has the very stoutest of support by all Moslem leaders of the Northeast and Northwest. Southern apologists of the oligarchy deceive themselves when they rationalize exclusions of prominent leaders known to them from the two zones.
, “I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria . . . God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country."
“It is the legal responsibility which God has given us, within the concept of one Nigeria, to continue to uphold the practice of Sharia whole heartedly, and to educate non-Muslims that they have nothing to fear, . . . What remains for Muslims in Nigeria is for them to redouble their efforts, educate Muslims on the need to promote the full implementation of Sharia law.”
(Former Head of State, Gen. Muhammed Buhari ( now President) in a seminar organized by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria in Kaduna, August 2001).
In the light of the forgoing, the reaction of President Buhari to any Bill from the National Assembly proclaiming Sharia all over Nigeria is unlikey to need a second guess.
10. Following on the popularity of Sharia in the North in 2002, Mohammed Yussuf established Boko Haram in Borno and the sole objective was to compel Sharia implementation, first all, over the North, and subsequently all over the Federation.
The oligarchy is highly sophisticated and stealthy in execution of Jihadism in its Islamization program, but the ordinary folk is not. The oligarchy often will use Jihad of Words and Deception (political maneuvering ) and would stealthily employ Jihad of the Sword (violence - riots and warfare) using the ordinary folks, whenever Jihad of Words and Deception fail. This is how the rampage and brutality which Boko Haram brought in its wake, particularly after its leader was extra- judicially murdered, followed. However, the feudal lords later felt threatened when Boko Haram started killing Emirs & enthroning their own Emirs, after it got internationalized by affiliation with ISIS.
By 2012 when it became obvious that the "infidel "occupying Aso Rock was reneging on his 2011 undertaking not to contest the 2015 election , the North's political class found and exploited Boko Haram as very potent weapon for the election.
11. ISMAT - Saudi Arabia-led Coalition against ISIS: In 2016 President Buhari announced that Nigeria is joining ISMAT, a Saudi- led coalition of Sunni
Islamic countries to fight ISIS. Not a whimper from Non-Moslem leaders in Nigeria. Section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution requires any external treaty made by the executive branch to be ratified by the National Assembly (NASS). Reaction of the NASS is awaited on this bigoted presidential decision. Non-Moslems of Nigeria must mobilize to oppose this rape of Nigerian Constitution.
12. Cattle Fulani Herdsmen Militancy:
Militancy of Cattle Fulani herdsmen became a nation-wide scourge from about 2011 and increased in intensity from year to year. Presently, Cattle Fulani herdsmen militancy is the most ominous threat to national security, by far more than Boko Haram, because it is nation-wide.
Organized and registered as Miyetti Allah Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), their chief patron is the Sultan. It is hoped that General Buhari, on becoming Head of State of Nigeria, has resigned as a patron of MACBAN. The owners of the cattle ranging all over Nigeria are the most prominent and influential Fulanis – traditional and religious leaders, top political and administrative office holders, foremost security officers including generals etc. The herdsmen are mere minders and therefore enjoy unlimited protection from their owners. The herdsmen seem to obey no laws of Nigeria and even refuse to attend peace conferences in communities where they commit these atrocities for which the security agencies never arrest them.
On 24th February, 2014 Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) exhibited how much above the Law the Cattle Fulani herdsmen are by writing then President Goodluck Jonathan a highly provocative letter titled, “Mr. President, Call Governor Suswan to Order Before It is Too Late” in which they not only threatened to deal with Governor Suswan of Benue State in his home State for allegedly assisting the Tivs of the Middle Belt to limit the herdsmen’s murderous activities in the Middle Belt. They also pejoratively reminded the President that their ranging across the country with their cattle is covered by Section 41, (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement and settlement in all parts of Nigeria to all citizens of Nigeria. On10th March 2014, after an exchange of gun shots failed to get the Governor in a convoy, they attacked Mr. Suswan’s ancestral village, killed 25, and sacked the village plus 29 other communities within 25 kilometers radius. MACBAN had deliberately ignored in their letter to the President, the fact that the freedom of movement guaranteed by S.41 (1) refers only to Nigeria citizens and definitely not cattle, an item of trade whose movement is subject to regulation for society’s safety, comfort and convenience. Besides, the right to freedom of movement under reference is not absolute since Section 45(1) of the same Constitution subordinates those rights to any reasonable law enacted in “the interest of defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.” Imagine Cattle rearers and their owners threatening a State Governor in his own State through the President of the Country and being able to execute that threat! The audacity of it - above the law MACBAN.
For the avoidance of any doubt, Nigeria is not a major Cattle breeding nation of the world. According to 1990/92 Nigerian Livestock Resources (RIM) Survey estimates, Nigeria had less than 13.90 million cattle. Major cattle breeding countries of the world, by 2009 figures have as high as 285 million cattle in India; 187,087,000 in Brazil; China 139,721,000; U.S.A. 96,669,000; EU 87,650,000,Argentina 51,062,000; Pakistan 38,300,000; Australia 29,202,000; Mexico 26,489,000. Pastoralism or free ranging of cattle is not practiced in most, if not all, of the above major cattle breeding nations, in the interest of economy, public safety and health. Pastoralism is therefore primitive, outmoded, uncivilized, and uneconomic; and has been long discarded by the civilized and productive world. No doubt pastoralism is one of the major factors that has held North East and North-West Nigeria down as the poorest and most illiterate zones of Nigeria.
Thus by the Fulanis insisting on cattle breeding by pastoralism, they probably wish to return Nigeria to the Middle Ages and ipso facto spread poverty and illiteracy. Nigeria, may be wishes to return to where USA was at the height of Cow Boy machismo, before ranching became compulsory under U.S. Law.
The North knows that more meat and milk can be got out of cattle bred in ranches and knows also that cattle breeding is business and therefore cattle breeders ought to buy their ranches and government should not award ranches to ranchers.
The Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of National Grazing Reserve (Establishment and Development) Commission for the Preservation and Control of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes and other Matters Connected therewith, is therefore not any thing about business.
It is an act of DOMINION. It is an Act that seeks to legalize the declaration of Nigeria (the 24th African and World member of the OIC) a Federal Islamic Sultanate . . . , as resolved in Abuja-Islam-in Africa Conference of 1989.
The details of that bill, is not as relevant as its intent. The arrogance in the intent of the sponsors of this Bill is obvious.
By 2013, the Fulani population in Nigeria was estimated at 7 million out of 150 million estimate for Nigeria.
Fulanis are nomadic and very protective of their cattle. They have no regard for people's right to life, property and decency. They therefore kill, maim, rape and destroy property indiscriminately. They are invariably armed with military assault weapons contrary to Nigerian Law; and therefore very dangerous to society.
The intended Bill is therefore intended to legitimize the impunity of a tiny minority of Nigerians in criminality.
The arrogance and impunity intended in this Bill is most manifest in a section of the Bill which provides as follows: No Court of law shall carry out execution of its judgment or attachment of court process issued against the Commission in any action or suit without obtaining the prior consent of the Attorney General of the Federation. The Bill wishes to subordinate Nigerian Courts to the Executive branch in issues concerning the Fulani, contrary to the Constitution, contrary to application of the law to over 95% of Nigerians!
The Cattle Fulani herdsmen, armed with military assault weapons have over the past five years been killing, maiming, raping Nigerians in their ancestral homes with careless abandon in obvious connivance with the Nigerian Army and Police who overlook the illegality of the weapons they carry and back them up whenever they are overwhelmed in counter-attacks by farmers/villagers. The case of 76 villagers allegedly kidnapped by the Army in Ugwuneshi community of Awgu LGA in Enugu State, transported across state lines, and thereafter illegally arraigned in Abia magistrate Court, is a typical of the Army and Police complicity with the herdsmen.
Establishing grazing reserves in every State of Nigeria for Cattle Fulani herdsmen, would therefore amount to granting and legalizing sanctuaries for herdsmen from which they would subdue communities as they may be directed by MACBAN and/or their patrons, any time it pleases the overlords. Plateau, Nassarawa, Benue, Taraba and Southern Kaduna are all now experiencing this level of invasion. Agatu in Benue State with 300 dead in the hands of the herdsmen and subsequent occupation plus over 10,000 cattle, protected by soldiers, is a nightmare no one would wish himself in his own ancestral home!
The long-term implications of this Bill is unfathomable. The satellite Fulani communities the grazing reserves will generate, would in 25-50 years time generate enough population to contest LGA chairmanship elections that would be determined by orgies of violence. With the Hausa/Fulani tradition, average family size is 20-28 against ours which is 5-7. The Jos - North experience of 2008 would be playing out nation-wide. Hausa/Fulani loss of Jos-North LGA 2008 chairmanship election resulted in the hriot with 500 deaths (126 Igbos) because a Berom candidate assisted by Igbos, won. Fifty rioters arrested under Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo, were ordered to be taken to Abuja where they were instantly and unconditionally released on arrival. President Yardua was in Aso Rock.
With the grazing reserves providing a safe staging ground, the Fulanis would always use ceaseless riots & indiscriminate massacre to intimidate change of policies anywhere they establish substantial presence, given their proclivity for violence; and the domination of local security agencies by their kinsmen. It has just been confirmed that the Divisional Police officers in Awgu LGA and neighboring Abia State DPO who are both of the same stock with the herders, along with the soldiers and security zonal commands, played major roles in the recent kidnap and trafficking of the 76 Ugwuneshi -Awgu villagers to Umuahia.
13. The Apparent Silence of South-East Political Elite in the Rampage of Fulani Herdsmen and other Acts of Violence:
The empowerment by outside influences of South-Eastern businessmen and politicians is a major constraint on representation of South-East views in the Nigerian polity - outside influences on election/ selection/appointment to public offices. The fear of arrest and prosecution by Federal Security Agencies for those who compromised themselves whilst in office is another factor. The same time, major Igbo businesses who need licenses or patronages from the Centre would not wish to engender their businesses by speaking out or supporting the oppression of their people.
An irony plays out. Governor Ayo Fayose and Chief Femi Femi Kayode, both Yoruba, now become the only two prominent voices against the oppression of the Igbo in Nigeria.
14. The Inexplicable Silence/Failure of Nigerian Church Leaders particularly in the South-East
Nigerian Church leadership has neither an Archbishop Desmond Tutu nor a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They all seem to be playing it safe whilst Muslim leaders got away with OIC, D8, Sharia proclamation and all the other extreme provocations. Confronted, a Bishop called for prayers and I quickly reminded him that prayers are not enough. Positive action is urgently required. The Parable of Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 teaches all Christians that God is not God of the indolent. Prayers alone would deliver no returns hence the heroism of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu. Ndigbo si na onye alachara onu ya, ugulu alachalu ya (the harmattan would lick the lips of any one who fails to lick his, during the harmattan).
The churches should invest some of the billions of Naira they use in building Cathedrals, expensive parsonages for priests and Bishops and duplication of Church halls in mass mobilization of option in and out of Nigeria by means of advertorials, publications, press conferences, sponsored TV discussions, demonstrations; and local/international litigations and other forms of reactions against violations of human rights of Christians and other Nigerians, Sharianisation of Nigeria, indiscriminate trampling on the Nigerian Constitution and destruction of the spirit of the federation by various governments of the Federation. If they are afraid to publicly do so, surrogates are easily available. The faith the Chritianity suffered in the hands of Islam in Europe before the Crusades could be that of Christianity in Nigeria.
15. ACTION PLAN AGAINST GRAZING RESERVE BILLS
It was Edmund Burke (1729-1797) the British statesman and conservative political theorist who said, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Mr. Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899-1980) Russian writer and educator, in his memoir about his live with his poet wife in the gulag under repressive Stalinist regime titled “Hope Against Hope” (1970) enjoined all good people that “if nothing else is left, one must scream. Silence is the real crime against Humanity”.
The grazing reserve movement has been defeated before in 2011 but the climate in Abuja was changed by the 2015 election. One their own - the MACBA N is in Aso Rock and no chances need be taken.
Publicity of oppression of any kind and violations of fundamental human rights and Constitution is therefore important. Tyrants are not only enemies of freedom but also thieves of liberty. The world of today is much more humane than the 1950-60s Cold War world. Information against tyrants can break down walls of indifference in world opinion. Today information rules the world.
Advertorials in prominent national newspapers, publications, press conferences, sponsored TV discussions, demonstrations are imperative to woo world against tyranny, religious intolerance and human rights violation.
Local and International Litigations
The monster before us is Jihadism and Jihadists never let go. They fight to death believing as Jihadists that death in the Holy War is passport to paradise. Islamic doctrine teaches all Moslems that those who die in the holy war (Jihad) are guaranteed paradise.
“The person who participates in Jihad (Holy Battles) in Allah’s cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostle, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to paradise (if he is killed).” (Hadith/Sunnah Vol. 1:3).
Fundamentalist Col. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, both fought to death.
16. Litigation Option
After sensitization, some superior force is required to compel change in the Jihadists dominating Nigerian polity.
The only available force to Ndigbo is Action in both Municipal and International Courts.
Those who do not believe that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance and that non-violent change requires perseverance and patience, will simplistically dismiss this option saying:
(a) Nigerian courts are dominated dominated by Hausa-Fulani and will delay suits to death; and
(b) external litigation is expensive and could go on forever.
To these two reactions I question: What is the alternative cause of action to compel tyrants to mend their ways? Duck under the table, make all the money and fake life enjoyment in the midst of the mental torture of enslavement which is where Ndigbo unfortunately are today; and the end of the day, bequeath enslavement to posterity!
Famous and late indefatigable human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, whilst representing me in a suit to free me from being jailed by Governor Jim Nwobodo in 1979/80, told me that he used to take governments to court repeatedly, not because he hoped to win all the time, but that sworn affidavits in suits enable him expose the ugly under-belly of people in government (disclosures which otherwise would have been libelous).
Finally and most importantly, well- documented evidence can and will always result in victories in courts locally and internationally.
17. Successful litigations against government of Nigeria and world leaders.
For Odi massacre of 20th November 1999 in which 1,000 to 2,500 were killed, Odi community sued the Federal government for 1,000 lives lost and destruction of the community, claiming 100billion Naira compensation, an order of the court to rebuild the community and an apology. The court awarded Odi 37.6billion Naira compensation and a London Court compelled Nigeria to negotiate and settle for 15billion Naira prompt payout.
In the case of Zaki Biam, Massacre of October 2001, the Zaki Biam community sued the Federal Government for 100-200 lives lives lost and several thousands displaced asking for compensation of 200billion Naira. The court awarded 41.8billion Naira. A settlement of 8billion Naira was negotiated and paid.
In the case of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Dr. Arthur Nwankwo, Femi Aborisade, Owens Wiwa, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, and Hafsat Abiola, Plaintiffs-appellees, v. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Defendant-appellant (408 F.3d 877 7th Cir. 2005, Annotate this Case U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit - 408 F.3d 877 (7th Cir. 2005), Argued January 10, 2005, Decided May 23, 2005), the plaintiffs had sued Nigeria's three former Military Heads of State and Chief Ernest Shonekan for torture, death, unlawful detention and violations of fundamental human rights. After the Appeal Court ruled that General Abubakar, who was the only of the four properly served while receiving honor done to him by Chicago State University, was not covered by any immunity out of office and therefore should answer the charges, the Federal Government of Nigeria was compelled, on advice by U.S. State Department, to negotiate settlement with Chief Arthur Nwankwo and Hafsat Abiola (on behalf of Abiola family), the two subsisting plaintiffs in the suit, the others having defaulted in appearance/or deposition. Chief Nwankwo confirmed to me that EKWENCHE Organization of Chicago (a reputable and established Igbo irredentist group) was instrumental to success of the suit by ensuring personal service of Gen. Abubakar through the organization's attorney.
18. Convictions by International Courts for Acts of Genocide:
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: June 2010 after several plea bargains and some convictions that were successfully challenged on appeal, several of the accused were found guilty of committing genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and aiding and abetting genocide. Several members of the Bosnian Serb security forces were also found guilty of genocide by the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Slobodan Milošević, as the former President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia, was the most senior political figure to stand trial at the ICTY. He died on 11 March 2006 during his trial where he was accused of genocide or complicity in genocide in territories within Bosnia and Herzegovina; so no verdict was returned. Radoan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, was convicted on March 24, 2016 of ten of the eleven charges laid against him and sentenced to 40 years in prison for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United Nations tribunal on Thursday, March 24, 2016 for leading a campaign of terror against civilians in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. Mr. Karadzic, 70, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in lethal ethnic cleansing operations, the siege of Sarajevo and the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, in proceedings that were likened to the Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders. The trial was the most important in the 23-year history of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and a defining test for the entire system of international justice.
Karadzic conviction is a forceful manifestation of the international community’s implacable commitment to accountability. The conviction offered a note of closure to the bloodiest European conflict since World War II, a civil war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia and left more than 100,000 people dead.
(I International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1994 to present)
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of offenses committed in Rwanda during the genocide which occurred there during April 1994, commencing on 6 April. The ICTR was created on 8 November 1994 by the Security Council of the United Nations in order to judge those people responsible for the acts of genocide and other serious violations of the international law performed in the territory of Rwanda, or by Rwandan citizens.
So far, the ICTR has finished nineteen trials and convicted twenty seven accused persons. On 14 December 2009 two more men were accused and convicted for their crimes. Another twenty five persons are still on trial. Twenty-one are awaiting trial in detention, two more added on 14 December 2009. Ten are still at large. The first trial, of Jean-Paul Akayesu, began in 1997. In October 1998, Akayesu was sentenced to life imprisonment. Jean Kambanda, interim Prime Minister, pleaded guilty and was convicted.
(iii) The International Criminal Court
Since 2002, the International Criminal Court can exercise its jurisdiction if national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute genocide, thus being a "court of last resort," leaving the primary responsibility to exercise jurisdiction over alleged criminals to individual states. Due to the United States concerns over the ICC, the United States prefers to continue to use specially convened international tribunals for such investigations and potential prosecutions.
(a) Darfur, Sudan
In March 2005, the Security Council formally referred the situation in Darfur to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), taking into account the Commission's report but without mentioning any specific crimes.
In April 2007, the Judges of the ICC issued arrest warrants against the former Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmad Harun, and a Militia Janjaweed leader, Ali Kushayb, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
On 14 July 2008, prosecutors at the ICC, filed ten charges of war crimes against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. The ICC's prosecutors claimed that al-Bashir "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part" three tribal groups in Darfur because of their ethnicity.
On 4 March 2009, the ICC issued a warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan as the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded that his position as head of state does not grant him immunity against prosecution before the ICC. The warrant was for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It did not include the crime of genocide because the majority of the Chamber did not find that the prosecutors had provided enough evidence to include such a charge. Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan remains a wanted criminal in ICC records and could be arrested any time. Last year he managed to escape arrest in South Africa whilst attending AU meeting because the South African government collaborated in his escape.
(b) Conviction of Charles Taylor by I.C.C.
The first African president to be prosecuted at the International Court Court, Charles Taylor, was in April 2002 found guilty on 11 count charges for aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity and for supporting rebels who carried out atrocities in Sierra Leone in return for "blood diamonds".The historic judgment leaves Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, facing a lengthy term in a British prison and has set a precedent that Heads of State can no longer consider themselves immune to international justice.
After four years of hearings at the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone in the Hague, the former warlord was convicted on 11 charges including murder, rape, sexual slavery and enforced amputations.
19. WORST ENEMY OF NDIGBO IN THE FIGHT FOR LIBERATION:
The worst enemy of NDIGBO in the struggle for liberation is complacency and acceptance of the statuesque by Igbo political, intellectual & business elite, quite often resulting from absence and/ or lack of information.
As people defeated in a war, Igbo elite seem to resign themselves to present enslavement which has now attained its apogee with the Bill for an Act to Establish the National Grazing Route and Reserve Commission, to establish and control Grazing Routes and Reserves in all parts of Nigeria; and for Other Matters Related Thereto (HB. 388 sponsored by Karimi Steven). This Bill must not see the light of the day. It violates various aspects of the Nigerian Federal Constitution. The government of Nigeria must be brought to justice for Igbo mass killings from the 1966 pogrom till date, including recent IPOB mass murders.
20. Proposed measures: (a) Location of markets and movement of cattle within States fall under the residual functions of States. States should therefore enact laws limiting movement of cattle by road to motorized transportation and/or rail; and their sale only in designated markets.
Twelve northern States from 1999-2000 enacted Sharia laws criminalizing movement, sale and/or consumption of alcohol in their various States and these laws are being enforced with even Sharia Police (Hizbah) created by state law in states like Kano, in flagrant violation of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); Cattle should be bred in the savannas of the North and transported to markets in the South, not on hoofs, but in vehicles.
The Cattle Fulani herdsmen, whose proclivity for violence is at pick with non-Moslems, need orientation on the rights of every Nigerian citizen to life, property and decency before they venture outside their home States;
(b) The Churches and wealthy businessmen must mobilize demonstrations, vigil, advertorials, sponsored editorials and articles, sponsored TV and radio discussions by well-informed discussants, against this bill; and funding of litigations by organized groups. Those who are afraid to be identified as sponsors should consider use of surrogate bodies or institutions.
(c) The Nigerian Police must enforce the existing laws on sophisticated weapons carried by these herdsmen and also enforce state laws on movement of cattle, whenever such laws are enacted; (d) States in the SE zone must reinvigorate animal husbandry as initiated by Dr. Michael Okpara’s Eastern Regional government of the 1960s to produce more live stock from within. (e) There shall be an Igbo Institute where dedicated thinkers should be permanently addressing Igbo issues like the Jewish Institute. Thinkers are imperative for every (particularly the endangered) ethnic nationality. (f) The Federal Government must assist states in the establishment of ranches and enhanced animal husbandry. (g) All political, religious and traditional leaders in the North who are sincere on indivisibility or indissolubility of the Nigerian Federation must openly condemn the nefarious activities of Hausa/Fulani herdsmen whose activities threaten Nigerian federation even more than Boko Haram.
(h) If Nigeria must survive, efforts must be made by all concerned in the North to reform Islamic fundamentalism, as it is practiced in most of the North-West and North-East, to liberal or moderate Islam as it is practiced in such progressive Moslem nations as Turkey and Malaysia and in the South-West zone of Nigeria. Islamic fundamentalism, NOT ISLAM per se, is antithetical to federalism in a religiously plural state. It is intolerant of any other Religion and both are mutually exclusive. Let us stop deceiving ourselves. Wherever they mix, there is constant friction resulting in violence. It is my profound view that Criminal Code Sharia Law, the bedrock of Islamic fundamentalism, is antithetical to Common Law and therefore inconsistent with secular democracy. Controversies in managing the two have resulted in Muslims being involved in over 90% of all the wars and terrorism in the world of today.
(i) Ndigbo must reclaim a liberated OHANAEZE NDIGBO to serve Igbo interest and not any parochial interests.
21. READ MY NEXT POSTING ON HOW TO MAKE NIGERIA PAY FOR ACTS OF GENOCIDE AGAINST THE IGBO FROM1966 UP RECENT IPOB KILLING THROUGH SUPPORT FOR LITIGATIONS LEAD BY EKWENCHE & International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, Onitsha, Southeast Nigeria. Check them out at EKWENCHE at www.ekwenche.org and Intersociety @ www.intersociety-ng.org
