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.
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