A group, Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI), has filed a criminal petition against renowned human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, before the International Criminal Court (ICC) sitting Hague.
MNBI accused Falana of allegedly instigating the recent peaceful #EndSARS protests which took place in major cities across the Nigeria.
The protest was later hijacked by suspected hoodlums which led to the destruction of public and private properties including police formations in some states.
The group is seeking upon conviction, two billion US Dollars for damages against the popular lawyer for instigating the protests which resulted in the killings, destruction and maiming that took place during the protests across the country.
The ICC has however confirmed receipt of the criminal complaint filed against Falana, a strong critic of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
According to a report by an online medium, newswirengr.com, said the petition against the rights activist was dated 4th November, 2020.
The petition was addressed to the Office of Madame Fatou Bensouda, The Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC).
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According to a reply signed by the Head of Information and Evidence Unit of the ICC, Mark Dillon, the Communication has entered the Registry of the Court and will be considered accordingly with the procedure and Rome Statute of the ICC.
In the complaints filed by Joseph Nwaegbu. a Senior Associate of Pathfind Attorneys on behalf of Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI), said the role played by Mr. Falana before, during and after what observers described as “the mother of all protests in Nigeria” is not only ignoble but criminal.
The group accused Mr. Falana of “spreading fake news to further incite the youths in the country against the government which led killings and destructions of properties.”
The group said it has attached “sensitive pieces of evidence” on the allegations raised to drive home their argument that Femi Falana, ought to be prosecuted and sanctioned.
In the criminal complaint, the complainant listed policemen killed and government property destroyed as casualties of the protest which lasted for about three weeks.
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The group called on the ICC Prosecutor to open an investigation of Femi Falana, on her own accord under Article 15 (1) of the Rome Statute;
It called on the ICC Prosecutor to compels Femi Falana SAN upon conviction under the Rome Statute to pay the sum of $2,000,000,000 (Two Billion US Dollars) as punitive damages for causing death, injury and maiming of several citizens as well as wanton destruction of public and private properties through his instigation of the violent #EndSARS Protests across Nigeria from the period 3rd October, 2020 till 21st October, 2020.
The senior advocate has been speaking out in support of the #EndSARS protests during which Nigerians took to the streets in numbers to demand for an end to police brutality, extortion and extrajudicial killings by a rogue unit of the force known as the Special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
The Lawyer recently spoke against the hoarding of coronavirus palliatives in several cities in Nigeria, calling it a “crime against humanity.”
Falana, God is with you. All this cheap black mails won’t work. You will triumph at the end.