A few ppl are asking for a steer on the news that @MBuhari has nominated #Nigeria's immediate past #ServiceChiefs to be non-career ambassadors. Some are worried that a diplomatic passport may grant them roving impunity. So, let me explain briefly [THREAD]
blueprint.ng/breaking-buhar…
blueprint.ng/breaking-buhar…
Briefly, this isn't exactly good news for the former #ServiceChiefs. To begin with, to enjoy #SovereignImmunity (that's what it's called) in international law, they have to be accredited to another sovereign as Nigeria's ambassadors. Carrying a diplomatic passport isn't enough
Separately, that other country has to agree to accredit them. I suspect with the record of at least some of them, few credible countries will do so. They cld, of course, be accredited to Myanmar's Generals or to Putin's Russia or to Venezuela or Zimbabwe.
In any OSCE country, for instance, any effort to deploy them as ambassadors wld almost be guaranteed to end up in a raucous domestic & diplomatic mess & will be resisted seriously. In all likelihood, they will not pass muster with those countries.
There is no immunity for crimes under or within the scope of the Rome Statute generally. None of these former #ServiceChiefs is a Head of State, so there is not even any debate about this one.
It may be notable that the Prosecutor of the @IntlCrimCourt has decided to initiate formal processes for an investigation into atrocities in #Nigeria, including possible or alleged crimes by @HQNigerianArmy under the command of both the former #CDS & the former COAS.
If I were an adviser to any of the former #ServiceChiefs, I'd tell them to look upon this as some kind of chalice with hemlock thrown in. I'll be very leery. For campaigners for accountability, this is rather, perversely, great news. This is very free advice.
I shd add 1 thing: any country willing to accept them had better be a nearby neighbour so that they don't have to traverse the skies of any #RomeStatute country to get there. If not, there's no guarantee that an aircraft conveying them to station will not end up in #TheHague.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
