Dear Mr. Moreno-Ocampo,

have just read the press release you made available to the media in Nairobi, Kenya on November 7, 2009 following your press conference there. I read the details of the press conference in several newspapers but succeeded in finding a more reliable copy on the website of the International Criminal Court: http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/3744C631-B0BA-460F-93FB-64477D040270/281187/PRKenya0911092.pdf. You are in Kenya, as you confirm in your statement, "to inform the leaders of the country about his (your) next steps" with regards to prosecuting those who committed acts of genocide and crimes against humanity during the last Kenyan elections in December 2007. Your decision to prosecute is welcome and it is hoped that those who acted with impunity and killed innocent people in Kenya will be brought to book. But my concern is that you are doing everything possible to prosecute perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity in Kenya while those who did the same in Nigeria during the June 12, 1993 elections, Nigeria's freest and fairest elections, are walking our streets freely and haughtily, their air of self-important and arrogance has actually led them to scuttle the most recent effort in memory to make them make amend and seek reconciliation.

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I want you to know that the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections in Nigeria and the murders of innocent politicians, journalists, writers, citizens, students, protesters and human rights campaigners deserve a far more urgent action than the Kenyan matter. The winner of the June 12, 1993 election Chief Moshood Abiola, his wife Kudirat, Chief Alfred Rewani and a host of politicians and citizens were killed as a direct result of the fairest elections in the annals of Nigeria. The Armed Force, just like it happened in Kenya, fired and killed innocent citizens at demonstrations and rallies around the nation. Armoured tanks were turned against unarmed citizens, a sign that a war has been declared against the people.

I want you to know, dear prosecutor, that the logjam that resulted from the brigandage and manipulations that followed the annulment in Nigeria had rings of genocide and crime against humanity to it. The United States government and its representatives during that rough and rowdy period of Nigerian history, including then US Ambassador Walter Carrington will provide volumes of documents to support the claims of genocide and crimes against humanity. Nigeria was thrown into darkness and lawlessness reigned supreme while hundreds of thousands of our people were internally displaced by the military junta. Writers, editors, human rights campaigners were taken from their beds or their proxies such as wives and children held incommunicado in the place of the intended 'enemies.' The regime of General Ibrahim Babamosi Babangida that was unwilling to handover power to democratically elected civilians decided to wage a war against the Nigerian people. Along with his cronies in the Armed Forces, Babangida decided to visit death upon the people. The nation was thrown into darkness and every aspect of life paralyzed by soldiers who turned themselves into the enemy of the people.

The Nigerian junta under the leadership of General Babangida and later General Sani Abacha ran secret squads and strike forces that killed, maimed, imprisoned and held citizens incommunicado for months and years. The winner of the June 12 election was not spared torture and his supporters, newspaper editors and reporters, the academic community, human rights bodies such as Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti's Campaign for Democracy, trade unions such as Chief Ovie Kokori-led National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) and R. Addo-led Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSON) and worthy citizens including the Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Ndubuisi Kanu, Ayo Adebanjo, Ralph Uwechue, Dan Suleiman, Babarabe Musa, Jonah Jang, Abubakar Umar, Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Ayo Opadokun, and Olabiyi Durojaiye were harassed, abused, jailed without trial, refused release despite court judgements and pronouncements, kidnapped and held without trial, or had their homes and/or businesses set on fire.

Arson was a weapon of choice for Nigeria's secret service, the State Security Service (SSS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). Newspaper houses were set on fire by agents of the state and at one point the American Ambassador Mr. Walter Carrington had a gun pointed at him when he was travelling to Surulere on the outskirts of Lagos to meet with some human rights lawyers and campaigners. He and his wife came under threats from security services. However, the worst treatments were reserved for demonstrators who demanded the restoration of the electoral victory of Chief Abiola as freely given to him by the Nigerian people. In Oshodi and Ikeja districts of Lagos, Nigeria soldiers shot and killed more than one hundred demonstrators and bystanders. Orders to shoot and kill were announced on state-owned national televisions and radio stations. A state of anarchy and chaos was created, which led businesses and companies to close down their operations for months. The threats to life and fear of insecurity in a crisis created by the ruling junta led Nigerians from the Eastern part of the nation to flee the South. Journalist Bagauda-Kaltho and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa were among many who were killed by the military government in Nigeria during the June 12 crisis.

I want you to know, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, that the situation created by the ruling Junta after the June 12 elections were worse than what took place in Kenya. I expect that you will review publications from notable Nigerian newspapers and news magazines like Tell, The News, Tempo, The Guardian, Nigerian Punch, ThisDay, and Nigerian Tribune in order to get more information about the crimes against humanity, state sponsored murders and arsons that followed the June 12 elections, which claimed the life of the president elect Chief MKO Abiola while in prison. Nigeria is also a State Party to the Rome Statute, which makes the International Criminal Court (ICC) a part - an independent part - of the legal and judicial system of Nigeria, in the same way it is part of the legal system of the other 109 States Parties of the Rome Statute. There is an urgent need for you and the ICC to take a closer look at the June 12, 1993 crisis in Nigeria that followed the election of Chief MKO Abiola and the acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the regimes of Generals Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and Sani Abacha. Only an international action and prosecution can help to prevent acts of impunity like the ones witnessed in Nigeria between 1993 and 1998. The Nigerian nation is still smarting from the chaos, killings, arsons and crimes against humanity committed during that difficult period in the nation's history. Acts of brigandage like these can only be prevented from happening in the future if those who committed them between 1993 and 1998 are brought to book. I suggest you visit the UNHCR and the US State Department links provided below for additional information:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,4565c22538,45a51ac42,3ae6ad2a0,0.html

http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/democracy/1994_hrp_report/94hrp_report_africa/Nigeria.html

The situation in Nigeria has not changed much since the annulment of 1993. This can be traced to the fact that those who took part in the annulment of the June 1993 elections and are directly linked to murders and arsons are holding prominent positions in the Nigerian government today. General David Mark is the Senate President in Nigeria today and he was part of the regime of General Babangida. There are other members of the junta in the Nigerian National Assembly and others in the states holding offices. There are many more who are heavily tainted in their roles during the political logjam who are now top chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The timely action of the ICC is necessary to help bring justice to thousands who suffered and the hundreds killed by the Nigerian military juntas following the annulment of the election of Chief MKO Abiola. You told the Kenyan media that you "consider that the gravity is there and therefore I will proceed" with the trials against suspected perpetrators of postelection violence in Kenya. The gravity of the mayhem and killings in the aftermath of the June 12, 1993 elections in Nigeria is no less grave and criminal. The elections were botched, the presumed winner killed, his wife was also killed and hundreds of citizens, journalists, writers, newspaper vendors, demonstrators, students and human rights campaigners were also killed by the military junta. This is the time to bring justice to the people of Nigeria in view of the unwillingness of the Nigerian government to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity.