Ambassadorial Nominees: Diplomatic Immunity Not A Bar Against War Crimes – US-Nigeria Law Group
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The US-Nigeria Law Group on Friday took a critical look at the nominations of immediate past Service Chiefs as Non-Career Ambassador, stressing that it is sad that President Muhammadu Buhari is exporting lethargic failure abroad too.
The organisation however said that under International Criminal Law, diplomatic immunity is not a bar from international crimes such as war crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, etc.
The US-Nigeria Law Group noted that the rule is supported by International customary law as well as The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court codified in its Article 27.
According to the Washington based Group; “If Omar Bashir as then President of Sudan was indicted and a warrant issued for his arrest, it is unclear why Buhari’s Advisers gave him faulty information that these ambassadorships grant immunity for war crimes.
“Whatever the case, once again the regime’s corruption, abuse of power for personal politics of self-preservation instead of national interest is obvious for the whole world to see”.
It specifically said that the ambassadorial nominations of the ex-Service Chiefs like that of Late Justice Nsofor, was in spite of the knowledge of their debilitating inadequacies at the expense of the nation.
The US-Nigeria Law Group noted that President Buhari has managed to ruin even a modest step of replacing the failed chiefs who bungled the war on terror by elevating mediocrity and rewarding corruption yet again.
The US based organisation, said that the nominations of the retired Service Chiefs, two of whom achieved the dubious distinction of institutionalizing crass corruption and cronyism by building universities in their homes towns instead of securing the country from terrorism, remains questionable.
These were contained in a statement issued by the Group’s coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Ogebe Esq., in which it noted that diplomacy is not the specialty of Generals, adding that the military are only brought in only when diplomacy has failed.
According to Ogebe; “For instance, Gen Olu Rotimi was removed as ambassador in Washington after a bitter feud between him and the Minister of Foreign affairs, Ojo Maduekwe. Their quarrel was so strong that the ambassador wrote to Madueke stating that he had killed ragtag Biafrans like him in the civil war.
“The Buhari regime said that the most recent Nigerian ambassador to USA was not reappointed after a “performance evaluation” although it was
Buhari, who singlehandedly appointed Justice Nsofor as a reward for ruling in his favor in an election case. He was not nominated by his home state.
“While we understand that Buhari has done this in the hope of thwarting their prosecution for war crimes having failed in his bid to appoint a Nigerian to the International Criminal Court, his backup plan is flawed,” it stressed.
The Group declared that while one can elude human justice, he/she can never evade divine justice.
