The International Criminal Court (ICC) has moved to deny claims made against it that it rated President Buhari highest on Integrity among World leaders.
Abdulmumin Jibrin, a lawmaker who was suspended by the house of reps in 2016 for over a budget padding scandal, claimed in an interview the ICC invited Buhari as its keynote speaker, because he is the only leader with the highest scores on integrity.
Jibrin claimed that the check was carried out by security agencies from twenty European countries and the United States of America on both serving and former African leaders.
The APC jumped on this message and soon there was a tweet from Lauretta Onochie that seemed to show a post which read ‘Buhari showed me a document he brought back from ICC, Hague. A top-secret Background Check on Global leaders, past and present. He is the only leader rated XXX1 on Integrity, the Highest Rating Globally. That’s why he is the only World Leader on the ICC floor to address them – Abdulmumin Jibrin, APC Kano’.
READ: Reps lift suspension on Jibrin
On the post, Onochie captioned it: “Take that! Please don’t blame us for falling in love with a good man. Name your candidate and we will xray him or her. #SaiBaba2ndTerm”
Denying this claim, however, an ICC spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah said, “The International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”) is not involved in any integrity or background check of world leaders,”
Abdallah also stated that it was not uncommon for the ICC to invite Heads of State one at a time for certain high-level events, such as anniversary commemorations but also the opening of the judicial year, he also said that “this is because of logistical and protocol reasons involved in hosting dignitaries at that level”.
The ICC spokesman also clarified that while Buhari was not the only leader invited, ‘Nigeria was the only State represented by its President’.
The celebrations by the ICC will also feature more than 30 other States who will be represented at the level of national Senates and Parliaments chiefs, as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice.
There has been no response, rebuttal or explanation from the Presidency, Lauretta Onochie or Jibrin