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Tag: ICC

  • ICC: Nigeria transit route for counterfeit, pirated products

    The Vice Chairman, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Nigeria Mr. Raymond Ihyembe has lamented that Nigeria has become a transit route for fake and counterfeited and pirated products.

    He listed corruption, weak legal framework and others as responsible for this development.

    Speaking during the presentation of a report by Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), an initiative ICC, in Lagos, he said it is important for the country to have national policies that create awareness of the importance of intellectual property, saying: “This is in line with BASCAP’s commitment to make the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.”

    According to Ihyembe, the result of the report showed that the country has increasingly become both a target destination and significant transit route for counterfeit and pirated products.

    He said: “This situation is related to several factors such as corruption, out-dated legislation and weak enforcement mechanisms, including lack of national policy on combating counterfeiting and piracy. Investment, trade and economic growth are being penalised by the negative effects of these illegal practices that also affect consumers’ health due to counterfeit practices in sensible industries like pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.”

    He added that the report stressed the importance of intellectual property enforcement and documented some of the challenges that Nigeria faces in relation to intellectual property rights. “It acknowledges that economic growth needs a strong legal framework that protects IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and encourages innovation, research and development of indigenous products,” he said.

    He noted that the purpose of BASCAP report is to put forward a set of policy and legislative recommendations that stakeholders in the country could use for reducing counterfeiting and protecting economic growth.

    Titled: Promoting and Protecting Intellectual Property in Nigeria, it was released during the Anadach workshop in Lagos which had The Dynamic role of Intellectual Property in Promoting Innovation and Economic Development in Emerging Markets as its theme.

    The report received valuable input, support and endorsement from ICC Nigeria, key local partners including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON),  National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), African Intellectual Property Group (AIPG) and the Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria (IPLAN).

    Speaking on the occasion, ICC Nigeria, Secretary-General, Mrs. Olubunmi Osuntuyi, added that in collaboration with ICC Nigeria, the aim of the report is to help the government achieve important goals, saying that ICC partnership with BASCAP will enhance the needed impact in advocacy efforts on Intellectual property.

    She said the group plans to work with BASCAP to sustain this laudable drive by having more workshops and seminars to bring to fore the importance of the subject matter amongst stakeholders.

     

  • Al-Bashir: S/Africa threatens withdrawal from ICC

    Al-Bashir: S/Africa threatens withdrawal from ICC

    The South African government on Thursday threatened to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after a row over the court’s attempt to have Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrested in Johannesburg.

    Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe, said after a cabinet meeting in Cape Town that a group of ministers would review South Africa’s ICC membership to ensure complied with the country’s obligations to African Union (AU).

    The minister said South Africa may as a last resort consider withdrawing from the ICC.

    Radebe argued that South Africa was right not to arrest al-Bashir due to his diplomatic immunity.

    He said al-Bashir was not a on a visit to South Africa rather for a meeting of the AU,` so how do we arrest him’.

    Al-Bashir took power in a bloodless coup in 1989 and has won three elections since.

    In the last poll, conducted in April and boycotted by the main opposition parties, official results showed him winning 94 per cent of the vote.

  • Sudanese President, al-Bashir leaves South Africa

    Sudanese President, al-Bashir leaves South Africa

    Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, left South Africa on Monday, undermining the decision of a court barring him from leaving South Africa in connection with his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    A source said in Johannesburg that a plane bearing President al-Bashir, took off from the Waterkloof Airforce base outside Pretoria, with the al-Bashir.

    The source said on condition of anonymity, that al-Bashir’s aircraft, must have been flown from Oliver Tambo International Airport to Waterkloof, on Sunday night to facilitate his escape.

    Meanwhile, William Mokhari, South African government lawyer, told the North Gauteng High Court that it was not clear if al-Bashir’s name was on the list of officials who boarded a plane to Sudan.

    However, a Sudanese government official, said on condition of anonymity, that al-Bashir was expected back in Sudan on Monday afternoon.

    The Sudanese President’s arrival in South Africa for the 25th African Union (AU) Summit sparked an outcry and forced Pretoria to defend its controversial guest.

    The South African Litigation Centre’s (SALC) said it had sought a court injunction to order the government to arrest Sudanese President al-Bashir and transfer him to the ICC.

    It said this was for him to face the indictment, on war crimes and crimes against humanity, charges over the long-drawn internecine war in Sudan’s Darfur region.

    SALC said the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has said the warrant for al-Bashir’s arrest must be implemented by countries who have signed up to the Hague court’s statutes.

    It said as a result of this South Africa, as a signatory of the Rome Statute establishing the court, was bound to arrest the Sudanese leader.

    SALC insisted that the court’s warrant for the arrest of President al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes was a matter that should be treated seriously.

     

  • Indigenous communities take minister to ICC

    Indigenous people of Dagbalo and Akpajenjiya communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have concluded arrangements to send a petition against the Minister of the territory, Senator Bala Mohammed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague over what they described as inhuman and undemocratic treatment.

    Leader of Dagbalo community in Apo, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Rev. Danjuma Tanko who made this known to journalists at a press briefing in Abuja, expressed sadness over the continuous silent of the minister on the situation against the natives, saying that about five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) have been consulted over the matter to make necessary arrangement to sue the minister to the ICC.

    Tanko said, as a result of selfishness, greed and corruptible means of acquiring wealth, the administration has cause an untold hardship to the communities, making reference to the incident that occurred about two years ago on July 30th 2013, when pick van fully loaded with armed soldiers invaded their communities and forced them out, demolishing their houses, farm lands, destroying their economic trees in one day.

    He said that the singular act of wickedness was perfected as a result of lucrative position the community occupied and the FCT administration’s interest made it easy to abuse the natives of the communities without human face to provide an alternative for the people.

    “It’s in the light of this embarrassing behaviour of our leaders, which made us to see the necessity of the rule of law and it should be allowed to be the protector of the common man. We are also calling for oversight probe of the FCT Minister, for him to account for all the money budgeted for six years in the of resettlement and compensation of Abuja indigenes,” he said.

    He also accused the minister of using forceful tactics to take over of their homes thereby causing hardship and death to natives of their communities, saying that the time has come to put a stop to the wickedness that the FCTA is inflicting on their communities.

    “Our major reason for taking the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed to the ICC is to make them account and pay for all the mal administration done to our people. What is the minister’s interest to acquire lands for himself, children and friend at the expense of the original owners.

    “I want to make it abundantly clear to Nigerians that Federal Government has never in any way acquired the Abuja land. What the FCT administration is doing is to use force to seize our land without any meaningful compensation and some the places suffering displacement includes, Maitaima, Karu, Nyanya, Kubwa, Jabi, Karmo, Gudu, Garki, Gwarinpa and several other communities,” he said.

    Tanko further called on the president not to appoint any person who is not an indigenes of Abuja as a Minister of the FCT, in order to avoid ressetlement catastrophe in future.

     

  • OPC protest in Lagos: APC to report Jonathan to ICC

    OPC protest in Lagos: APC to report Jonathan to ICC

    A petition against President Goodluck Jonathan will soon be sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) said yesterday.

    APCPCO’s Director of Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday, said the petition followed “the massive terror unleashed on the residents of Lagos by armed pro-Jonathan groups under the cover of a faction of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC)”.

    A protest was held in Lagos last Monday by the armed groups on the pretext of demanding the sack of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) National Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    Shehu said the machete-wielding and gun-bearing armed pro-Jonathan groups marched on major streets of Lagos, harassing and intimidating motorists, chanting anti-Jega songs in a manner that gave them away as acting the prepared script for the truncation of the general elections.

    The statement reads: “There was such disruption to the tranquility of the city that warranted the citizens scampering for safety in all directions, a foretaste of the violence they plan to unleash on election day.

    “Our investigations have confirmed that Monday’s show was a dress-rehearsal for the main disruption planned for the general elections. Lagos and the entire Southwest, being a stronghold of the APC, have been marked for massive dishevelling commotion that would involve killings, maiming and kidnapping.

    “Our findings have further shown that the recent N9 billion Pipeline surveillance contract to OPC and some militant groups in southern Nigeria was the elixir for the latest crude impudence of the pro-Jonathan armed groups. Indeed, the contract award was indeed a subterfuge for the mobilisation of these murderous militant groups for the destruction of life and property to force the desire of the re-election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on the Nigerian people.

    “As an opposition APC, we are using this medium to serve Dr. Goodluck Jonathan the notice of our formal protest of this extreme show of impunity to the International Criminal Court (ICC). We are aware that Mrs. Patience Jonathan is already on the watch list of ICC. The activities of this President and his wife as regards the elections are not patriotic and very unhelpful for entrenching democratic values in the nation.

    “We recall the bombing of the APC secretariat and the shootings and disruption of the party’s campaign rally in Okirika in Rivers State, where the First Lady hails from, with a muted silence from President Jonathan.

    “Whereas the police authorities had denied the opposition party its legitimate and democratic rights to organise one million person march for General Buhari in Kano, it was, however, quick to approve that in Lagos, providing security to the pro-Jonathan armed groups while they unleashed mayhem on citizens in Lagos on Monday – a day that inhabitants of the city consider the most important of the week.

    “We are not ready to cower to the intimidation of Dr. Jonathan, ahead of the general elections. We believe Nigerians shall speak eloquently on March 28, 2015, and this brutality on the psyche of the Nigerian people shall cease.”

  • ICC threatens to try politicians promoting violence

    ICC threatens to try politicians promoting violence

    THE International Criminal Court (ICC) has restated its resolve to prosecute any Nigerian politician who engages in or incites his/her followers to violence.

    ICC’s Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, in a statement yesterday, warned that politicians risk being prosecuted either by the court or the Nigerian courts, should they persist in the campaign pattern dominated by hate speech and violence-inducing languages.

    The warning by the ICC came barely a week after the Presidential Campaign Organisation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said it will report President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, to the court for making inciting statements.

    The ICC had issued a similar statement in February, in which it urged the nation’s major political actors to strive to prevent violence among their supporters.

    “Following my statement of the February 2, 2015, and my Office’s subsequent visit to Nigeria from the February 3 to 5, I reiterate my previous message.

    “At a time when abhorrent levels of violence already plague parts of the country, I recall that the ICC has jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on the territory of Nigeria.

    “Any person who incites or engages in acts of violence in the context of the upcoming elections or otherwise – including by ordering, inciting, encouraging or contributing to the commission of crimes that fall within ICC’s jurisdiction – is liable to prosecution; either by Nigerian courts or by the ICC.

    “No one should doubt my office’s resolve to prosecute individuals responsible for the commission of ICC crimes, whenever necessary.

    “Violence is not a solution. The conduct and outcome of elections in Nigeria, free from violence, will not only prevent further instability in the country, but will also send a clear message that electoral competition does not have to result in violence and crimes that shock the conscience of humanity,” ICC said.

    The Office of the ICC’s Prosecutor has the powers to conduct independent and impartial investigations and prosecution of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    It is conducting preliminary examinations relating to such situations in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Iraq, Ukraine and Palestine.

    It has also opened investigations in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur (Sudan), Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali.

  • Hate speech: APC reports First Lady to NHRC, ICC 

    Hate speech: APC reports First Lady to NHRC, ICC 

    First Lady Patience Jonathan has been reported to the International Criminal Council (ICC) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

    The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Organisation accused the First Lady of threatening the lives of members with her pronouncement at a rally in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, when she asked PDP supporters to “stone” anyone who came to the state asking for “change.

    The Organisation’s Director-General and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi said in a letter of complaint is expected to be dispatched to the ICC, NHRC and the Inspector General of Police today: “Change, as the entire country must know by now, is the slogan of the APC – the rallying cry of a political party that wishes to bring hope of greater and better things to come for Nigeria and Nigerians. By her statement, Mrs. Jonathan was clearly calling on PDP supporters in Calabar to attack supporters and campaigners of the APC in the state.”

    He likened some of Mrs. Jonathan’s inciting statements and conduct during the political campaign season, to those of Mrs Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former President of Cote D’Ivoire, Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, prior to that country’s 2010 election. He recalled that the ICC indicted Mrs. Gbagbo for her part in planning to perpetrate brutal attacks,  including murder, rape, and sexual violence, on her husband’s political opponents in the wake of the 2010 election.

    The governor added:  ”Mrs. Jonathan does not occupy any formal office in the Nigerian government, as the position of First Lady is not recognised by the Nigerian constitution. But Mrs. Gbagbo’s case shows the ICC’s awareness of how someone beyond formal governmental and military hierarchies can be identified as responsible for serious international crimes.”

    Mrs Jonathan said at another rally in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari the APC’s presidential candidate, is “brain dead.” That statement has equally attracted condemnation by many Nigerians.

    Amaechi added that Mrs. Jonathan’s “incontrovertible hate speech” not only contravenes the laws of the land, but also goes completely against the Abuja Peace Accord jointly signed by the two presidential candidates Gen. Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan – a gesture which is aimed at forestalling violence before, during and after the 2015 elections.

    “PDP supporters in the state who may not know better could easily yield themselves to the First Lady’s admonition and embark on a process of wanton stoning and other attacks against APC members,” Amaechi said.

    He urged the police to plan emergency measures to protect the lives and property of APC members in Calabar and the entire Cross River State.

  • ICC Africa Under 19: Nigeria finishes fifth, escapes relegation

    The Nigerian team to the ICC Africa Under 19 Championship in Dar-es- Salaam, Tanzania escaped relegation after finishing fifth in the six-team event, winning two out of the five games it played.

    According to Tanzaniacricket.com, the Nigerian team lost the first and second game by seven wickets and 164 runs to Kenya and Namibia respectively before beating Uganda in the third game by 23 runs. In the fourth game, the Nigerian team lost by three wickets to host Tanzania, but dispatched Botswana by nine runs in the final game.

    In the final standing released by the host, Namibia finished first with four wins, one defeat and eight points, Uganda finished second with three victories, two losses and six points, Kenya had the same number of victories as Uganda, but had fewer runs. Tanzania and Nigeria ended with same number of wins, but Tanzania edged Nigeria to fifth place with fewer runs. Botswana finished last with one victory from five games

    Coach of the team, Tamuno John told SportingLife after arriving in the country that the players did their best, but lacked the necessary experience at exposure to do well at a championship of that magnitude. He said 12 of the players were tasting international competition for the first time and the tour of Dubai, which was cancelled, could have given the players a taste of what to expect in Tanzania.

    “I believe most of the players that we paraded did not have the experience and exposure to compete with the best because they were playing international cricket for the first time. We also played on turf as against the hard surface we play on in Nigeria. However, I must praise them for giving their best and hopefully they will become better players in future,” John added.

    John noted that the country needed to start an elite development camp programme aimed at training cricketers to the top level. “Some of the players we came up against are in various academies in their country where they get quality training unlike here, where training for one month for major championships, which is very inadequate.”

    He expressed delight that the country escaped relegation and promised a better outing at the next edition.

  • Kenyatta and ICC

    Sir: After more than seven years of invitation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta finally agreed to temporarily relinquish his power as President to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the tribal clashes that caused over 1200 lives after Kenya’s general election in 2007.

    He will be the fourth African head of state to be dragged before the ICC and the 16th African leader to stand trial there. Some have long argued that ICC has been turned into African leaders’ criminal court. This is because, no western leader has ever been to the ICC. The only exception is Radavon Karazic of Bosnia.

    I support punishing criminals that inflict havoc and destruction on their people. Most countries in Africa are under-developed with extremely weak judicial systems. In an environment where highly placed individuals are rich and corrupt – it is so easy to bribe officials to escape justice hence death they caused as a result of their misdeeds may never be brought for trial. The ICC remains the only place to answer for their alleged crimes.

    However, the ICC must be a global justice environment irrespective of colour or race. To overlook western massacres is unacceptable. The Iraq and Palestine massacres committed by US and Israel are enough to bring their leaders to The Hague. That was why African leaders were unanimous in the case of Sudan President who was charged by ICC when the vowed never to bring fellow African leaders to the ICC. The ICC must move to balance justice and stop looking for African leaders alone.

     

    • Comrade Abdulbaqi Aliyu Jari

    Katsina State

  • Uhuru Kenyatta will appear at ICC in the Hague

    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has confirmed he will be appearing at the International Criminal Court in The Hague this week.

    He told parliament that his deputy, William Ruto, would be in charge during his absence.

    Mr Kenyatta faces charges of organising ethnic massacres that killed 1,200 people after the 2007 elections – something he denies.

    The 8 October hearing is due to set a date for his trial to begin.

    The ICC had summoned him to appear to explain allegations that evidence against him had been withheld.

    In September, the court postponed the trial after prosecutors said the Kenyan government had failed to deliver key documents. Witnesses for the prosecution have withdrawn from the case.