Army dismisses ICC allegations of war crimes, says it’s a campaign of calumny

Sani Usman, the spokesman of the Nigerian Army, says it is not true that the Nigerian army has committed war crimes against humanity.

On Monday, TheCable reported revelations from the International Criminal Court (ICC), stating that the court had found a reasonable basis to believe that the Nigerian military committed the war crimes against humanity.

“Specifically, the Office found a reasonable basis to believe that the NSF committed the war crimes of murder pursuant to article 8(2)(c)(i); torture, cruel treatment pursuant to article 8(2)(c)(i); outrages upon personal dignity pursuant to article 8(2)(c)(ii); and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population,” the ICC had said.

The ICC added that the office of the prosecutor, met with Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and minister of justice, in July 2018, in connection with its investigations in Nigeria.

But reacting to the report on Tuesday, Usman said the report, published by the ICC is not true.

“I just sent a WhatsApp message to one of the Nigerians at The Hague, and honestly, I wish my phone was here, you would have seen his reply,” he told Channels TV.

“I think there is an element of some campaign of calumny and mischief. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in its preliminary report did not say so.

“In fact, what they said is that there were issues of interest in Nigeria, but for them to have come out to indict the Nigerian army, it is not true.”

When asked about the Amnesty International reports stating crimes against humanity, Usman went on to say that Amnesty has maintained a “vanguard against the army without credible evidence”.

The ICC report stating war crimes by the Nigerian army can be found here.