CPC Wants Obasanjo Arraigned For Genocide

The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, on Monday called for the arraignment of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for genocide.

In a statement made available to Vanguard, the party's National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin said Obasanjo should be charged for crime against humanity and violation of human rights before the International Court of Justice, ICC, as he gave the order for the invasion of Odi community.

Fashakin said:"As a Party, it is our belief that there is no amount of monetary compensation that can fully assuage the sense of colossal loss of these hapless communities, whose rights to life was indecently trampled upon by the PDP-led Federal Government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

"It is equally our belief that, with the establishment of the intent and content of the invasion as genocidal, the course of Justice is best served if the head of the government at the material time, that is, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is formally arraigned before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crime of genocide.

"The wider implication of the arraignment shall be the institution of constitutional order and decency among the ruling elite so that the inalienable rights of the people to personal liberty and justice shall remain sacrosanct.

According to the statement, "In Article 5(1a) of the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), genocide is a crime under the jurisdictional purview of the Court. Furthermore, Article 6 (a-c) of the same statute reads thus: For the purpose of this Statute, "genocide" means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

The statement further indicted the PDP of over-using of the military in civil matters, including elections, protests and exercising democratic rights by citizens for over 13 years of being in power.