Hold El-Rufai responsible for any election violence, group tells ICC

The Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA/Umunna) has called on the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and members of the diplomatic to hold the Governor of Kaduna State and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai responsible for any act of election violence that may be recorded in Nigeria’s general elections which starts on Saturday, February 16, 2019.

In a statement issued from Toronto, Canada, by the President of the socio-cultural and political group, Chief Ugochukwu Okoro, through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Ahaoma Kanu, the call became necessary following the hostile and open threats made by the governor in a televised program on national television.

The Kaduna State governor had, in a televised program on national television threatened foreign elections observers saying, “ Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for that person that will come and intervene, they will go back in body bags.”

“As we get into the final hours before the elections, we are worried for the safety of our people who are resident in Kaduna and other parts of the northern Nigeria and demand that the Federal Government should protect the lives of every person in those regions.

“Kaduna State under el-Rufai has witnessed ethnic tension; deaths and bloodshed. This is a governor that did nothing when in 2017 the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum gave a quit notice to Igbos living in the north to leave or face attack.

He said the state has become a very volatile state where violence and killings occur without warning. “There have been various incidences of violence along religious lines lasting days without abating especially in Southern and Northern Kaduna with the State government doing absolutely nothing to stop such incidents neither are any culprits arrested.”

We call upon the ICC and the international community to place a special focus on the activities of the state governor in order to safeguard the lives of Nigerians during this election period,” Okoro said.