The International Criminal Court said it had gotten the appeal composed against the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd); the Attorney-General of Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); a previous Chief of Army Staff, Gen Tukur Buratai; and previous Inspectors-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and Muhammed Adamu.
The head of Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof Banji Akintoye; Yoruba Nation lobbyist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, otherwise known as Sunday Igboho; and 49 other Yoruba self-assurance bunches had marked the appeal itemizing claims of annihilation and different wrongdoings, which was submitted to the ICC.
The Communication Secretary of Ilana Omo Oodua, Maxwell Adeleye, said in a statement on Wednesday that the ICC notified the group on Tuesday that it had received the petition and would notify it when the investigation would begin into the allegations.
The Yoruba self-determination agitators had in the petition filed at the ICC by their lawyer, Aderemilekun Omojola, accused the Nigerian leaders of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Yoruba people of Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Kogi, and Kwara states.
Apart from Akintoye and Igboho, some other Yoruba who signed the petition are the Chief Imam of Yoruba in Ilorin, Kwara State, Sheikh Raheem Aduranigba; leader of Obinrin Oodua Agbaye, Chief Simisade Kuku; leader of the Yoruba Strategy Alliance, Babatunde Omololu; General Secretary of Ilana Omo Oodua, George Akinola, and 44 others.
The ICC in a letter to the petitioners’ lawyer by the Head of Information and Evidence Unit, Office of the Prosecutor, Mr. Mark P. Dilon, said the court had received the petition and investigation would soon commence into the allegations.
The letter read, “As soon as a decision is reached to formally commence investigation into this petition, we will inform you in writing and provide you with reasons for this decision.
“This communication has been duly entered in the communications register of the office. We will consider this communication as appropriate following the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
Ada Peter
