Muhammadu Buhari, the former president of Nigeria, and Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, have been named in a petition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, alleging they committed a “crime against humanity.”
The five-page appeal, dated June 4, 2023, and signed by Cleric Ebikonbowei Alaowei, Esq., Chairman, Board of Trustees of CHURAC, was made accessible to reporters in Warri, Delta State, on Sunday.
The group called on the ICC to use its authority under Article 15 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court “to immediately carry out an investigation of the duo of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and prosecute them if found wanting over policy they initiated and implemented when they were in government in Nigeria.”
CHURAC wants the pair to face legal action specifically over the redesign of the 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes in Nigeria, with January 31, 2023 as the deadline for use of the previous notes. The group noted that this announcement was met with strong opposition, with financial experts from around the world, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), claiming that the timing of the policy will harm the Nigerian economy and lead to hardship.
CHURAC reports that on October 28, 2022, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stated that the CBN had not even consulted her ministry before implementing the Currency Swap Policy, which will further jeopardize the Nigerian economy.
However, the organization said that Buhari stated on October 30, 2022, that CBN has his support to redesign the aforementioned naira notes against all prudent advice.
“The former president further declared on November 10, 2022 that there’s no going back on the redesign of naira notes in spite of the apparent and identified demerits in the Policy”, CHURAC further recalled just as it chronicled the sufferings undergone by Nigerians in the process of executing the policy.
According to CHURAC, “it means the CBN governor and former president Buhari deliberately initiated this policy to inflict an untold hardship on Nigerians just because of their interest in the general elections”.
CHURAC’s petition to ICC read partly, “The action of the duo of Mr Godwin Emefiele and former President Buhari has flagrantly violated the fundamental rights of Nigerians entrenched in international laws. The act constituted crime against humanity as provided under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. We, therefore, request you to carry out a holistic investigation of the crime in order to try them once they’re found culpable.
“Many Nigerians are still suffering and yet to recover from the adverse effects of the inimical currency swap policy. Even hospitals recorded so many deaths because people could not have access to their monies in the banks to fund treatments.
“If your office intervenes in this matter, it will serve as deterrence to other leaders of nations from the member countries from trampling on the rights of their nationals in initiating policies.
“We’re ready to provide all necessary information for the investigation and possible prosecution of the culprits”.
