The candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, Omoyele Sowore, has said that former President Muhammadu Buhari must be made to pay for the crimes he committed against humanity in Nigeria while in office, including human rights violations and enforced disappearances.
Sowore, who said this at an event to mark the 2023 International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Abuja, noted that one day he would love to see former President Buhari handcuffed and made to pay for all his crimes against Nigerians, either in Nigeria or at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The human rights activist and #RevolutionNow convener said that in Nigeria, when leaders misbehave or commit crimes, they are offered pensions when they leave office but when leaders of civilised countries commit crimes, they are arrested and prosecuted for their crimes.
According to him, the US from where Nigeria imported its democracy and human rights statute, has had democracy for 200 years.
He noted that its former President, Donald Trump, has been charged four times with 91 different crimes and there may be more.
Sowore lamented that on the contrary, “Nigerian leaders who engage in corruption, abuse of human rights, are given red carpet reception every day and every night everywhere, including the one that just left (Buhari)”.
He continued, “The moment he left, the Nigerian government first paid for him to go and do a medical check-up in London instead of putting him on the plane to go to the ICC (International Criminal Court).
“Because the force disappearance we are seeing is small compared to what the Buhari regime did in terms of human rights violation.
“We are not talking about people who were summarily executed, having been labelled as IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) members or the 3,000 Shiite members that were killed and buried overnight in Zaria.
“The person who did it, the governor of the state was about to be made a minister and he is now a reggae musician because they didn’t make him a minister. These are grievous crimes and Nigeria has witnessed too many of these inhuman crimes – degrading treatment and torture of its citizens that we should not be appealing to the government. We should not be appealing to the people who are responsible for committing the crimes.
“Nigeria must reach a level where Nigerian leaders pay for their own crimes – whether they are in office or outside of office.
“I would love one day to see Buhari handcuffed to pay for his crimes; if not in this country, at the International Criminal Court of Justice.”
“These crimes don’t have a statute of limitations. It doesn’t matter whether you committed force disappearance in 1960 or in 2023, you can be punished for it at any age as long as you are alive.
“It applies to the military, the police officers, the DSS (Department of State Services) or anybody within the Nigerian security agencies.
“The DSS officers behave as if they don’t have names, families and records. We know all of them. If you have been working against the Nigerian people, no matter how long it takes, you must be made to pay for the atrocities you committed against the Nigerian people.
“It is not true that nothing will happen forever. Some of them will start paying for their crimes when they retire,” he added.
Sahara Reporters
