The Peoples Democratic Party
Presidential Campaign Organisation has said that wife of President
Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, will not appear before the International
Criminal Court.
It said there was no basis for her to be reported to the international court in the first place.
The Director of Media and Publicity of
the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, stated this at a press
briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
Fani-Kayode was reacting to the claim by
the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, that it had
reported the President’s wife to the ICC.
Patience was reported to have told
supporters of the PDP at its rally in Cross River State to stone anyone
canvassing for change in the state.
“Change” is the slogan of the APC.
In its complaint to the ICC, the APC
through its Director-General, Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, said the wife of the
President was calling on the supporters of the ruling party to attack
those of the APC.
But Fani-Kayode described Patience as a woman of peace, adding that her speech didn’t propel anyone to take to violence.
The former Minister of Aviation added
that those that dragged the wife of the President to ICC were not
educated on issue of international law.
He said if they were, they would have known that individuals were not taken to the court on the basis of their speech.
He said, “It is pertinent to note that,
first of all, if they were a little better educated and had a better
understanding of international law and how the ICC works, they would
appreciate the fact that no individual is ever taken to the ICC based on
what he or she has said unless and until people act on those words and
massacre others.
“It is only if that speech is followed
by violence and mayhem or if it incites people to commit violence, which
results in death, mass murder and crimes against humanity, that the
person who indulged in such hate speech becomes an eligible candidate
for the ICC.
“Dame Patience Jonathan is a woman of
peace. She did not threaten anyone with violence; she did not incite
anyone to commit violence or to kill others and her words have not
resulted in death, mass murder or any crimes against humanity.
“We therefore completely reject the
baseless charge and assertion that she has called for the killing or
slaughter of anyone at any point in time.”
Fani-Kayode described the threat to take
Patience to the ICC as not only absurd but also nothing more than an
empty and boastful “ranting of a perfidious, desperate, decaying and
dying political party and such threat will amount to nothing.”
He said that if anyone was to be taken
to the court, it must be the presidential candidate of the APC, Maj.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.).
Fani-Kayode also alleged that the APC
was planning hate documentary on the private lives of the President, his
wife and that of the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke.
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