NATIONAL: Appointing ex-service chiefs as envoys may not protect them from ICC probe – Akinterinwa

FORMER Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Bola Akinterinwa, has questioned the rationale behind appointing ex-service chiefs who did not perform well in their country as non-career ambassadors who will leave the shores of their country  to go to unfamiliar territories

Akinterinwa also said the immediate past service chiefs and President Buhari are seriously mistaken if they assume that being non-career ambassadors will grant them diplomatic immunity and by so doing shield them from being probed the International Criminal Court.

Akinterinwa said this while featuring on  a Punch Online interview on Thursday.

He said this in reaction to President Buhari’s unexpected move of announcing the immediate past service chiefs as non-career ambassadors days after their retirement.

The move has been trailed by speculations ever since it became public knowledge.

While some said it’s meant to shield the former military chiefs from the ICC prosecution, there are those who said the president made the move to forestall coup.

Months before the ex-service retired, the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said the court had found a reasonable basis to begin investigating members of the Nigerian Security Forces for crimes against humanity committed especially in Nigeria’s North-East under the watch of the now-former service chiefs.

But the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai dismissed the claim as mere distraction  from the fight against insurgency and allied crimes.

Following the replacement of the service chiefs last week, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and some civil society organisations had also asked the ICC to probe Olonisakin, Buratai and others for human rights violation.

But the president shocked everyone by announcing the names of the service chiefs, who are now ambassadors-designate, have been forwarded to Senate for conformation.

The nominees are: Gen Abayomi G. Olonisakin (rtd), Lt Gen Tukur Y. Buratai (rtd), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (rtd), and Air Vice Marshal Mohammed S. Usman (rtd).

But the ex-NIIA director general said some powerful countries would declare the ex-service chiefs as persona non grata over alleged human rights violation.

He said, , “First of all, we need to get the concept of diplomatic immunity right. Diplomatic immunity as derived from public international law is different from diplomatic immunity as derived from private international law. The one derived from public international law refers to the Vienna Convention of 1961 on Diplomatic Relations in addition to subsequent protocols in which case as an ambassadors right from articles 27, 31 of the convention, they cannot be violated, they cannot be prosecuted.

“If for instance, the country they will be posted is any of these powerful countries, certainly, they will declare them persona non grata. So that what they are running away from which is to take advantage of diplomatic immunity, they will deny them that in advance and give different excuses.

“So, it is quite right for people who said it may be because of the fear of being arrested and tried that is why they want to call and name them as ambassadors.

“Well, if they are appointed as ambassador extraordinaire and of the first class, they can lay claim to such diplomatic immunity. It is a function of the level and type of the relationship between Nigeria and the country to which they are going to be posted but I quite agree to those who thought that it might be because of the need to prevent them from being probed.”

Akinterinwa, however, said since the crimes allegedly committed by the former service chiefs were not committed before they were appointed as ambassadors and for this reason, they might be liable to prosecution.

“If you go to section 304 to 308 of our constitution, you will discover that we abuse immunity. Immunity, for anybody who is serving is only for acts or crimes committed on behalf of the state. It doesn’t cover anything that is private. If you don’t pay your social charges all along, you will be liable.

“The crimes they (former service chiefs) committed were not committed when they were ambassadors and so when they come back, they will still be liable. They can’t run away from that. Nigeria is a signatory to the ICC status. So, Nigeria is required to facilitate the prosecution of anyone including its won citizen,” the don added.