Al-Bashir: Nigeria acted in honour – Anyaoku

The former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Dr. Emeka Anyaoku,
on Friday absolved Nigeria from fault over its refusal to arrest the
Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir.
Al-Bashir was at the African Union summit in the country.
Anyaoku, spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State at the burial of Taiwo Abati,
the mother of Dr. Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to President
Goodluck Jonathan on Media and Publicity.
The International Criminal Court had issued a warrant of arrest on
Al-Bashir on alleged charges of genocide in Darfur.
The Sudanese president was, however, in Nigeria recently to attend an
AU summit on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The development had generated local and international reactions, with
Human Rights Watch criticising Nigeria for not handing over Al-Bashir
to the ICC.
Anyaoku, however, argued that it was unrealistic for Nigeria to have
handed over the Sudanese president to the ICC.
He further argued that Nigeria only acted in line with the position of the AU, which had earlier rejected the warrant and accusing the ICC of targeting only African offenders.
He said: “The idea of Nigeria handing the Sudanese president over to
the AC or the ICC was unrealistic.
“He was not Nigeria’s guest but the AU’s guest and Nigeria was only a
host to the AU.
“There is no room for AU or any international body to sanction Nigeria because there is no procedure preventing member-state on an issue like that.
“Nigeria was hosting AU summit.
“There is no way that Nigeria should have said a member of the AU
should not attend the summit.”