The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) to answer questions pertaining to the role he played in the ethnic violence that characterized 1966.
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode urged the former military Head of State to prove his innocence in the Friday, July 29, 1966 coup and the mass murder of about 300 Igbo army officers, including the then Head of State, late Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi.
Fani-Kayode also charged General Buhari to clear his name in the killing of 100,000 Igbo civilians that year, not forgetting the Asaba massacre.
He said: “[Buhari] needs to answer questions about his role in the July 29, 1966 coup and the mass murder of about 300 Igbo army officers, including a serving Head of State, that took place that night.
“Secondly, there are questions to be answered about his role during the pogrom and massacre in northern Nigeria in 1966 in which no less than 100,000 innocent Igbo civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered in cold blood by mobs that were covertly armed and supported by a small handful of junior army officers.
“Thirdly Buhari’s role during the Asaba massacre, in which hundreds of Igbo civilians were murdered for no just cause, still needs to be clarified. It is left to Buhari to clarify these matters and tell us his role in all these events but if these grave allegations are true, they make him a prime candidate for the ICC (International Criminal Court).
“Another episode in which Buhari has questions to answer is his role in the mass murder of hundreds of people in the northern part of this country, including a number of young youth corpers who were in their prime, by Buhari’s supporters in 2011. This happened after he lost the presidential elections and after he encouraged them to go on the streets to commit violence. That deviant behaviour alone makes him a veritable candidate for the ICC.
“We are, indeed, grateful that a Dutch law firm has, indeed, filed papers to the ICC asking for General Buhari to be forcefully brought to the court to answer questions about those killings in northern Nigeria by his supporters in 2011. The court action is appropriate and vital in light of the remarks credited to General Buhari about a year ago in which, inter alia, he said that if he were to lose the 2015 Presidential election, the ”baboon and the dog would both be soaked in blood”.
“What this means is that he intends to soak the entire nation in blood in the event that he loses the election on March 28. He has refused to withdraw that statement and as a precursor to the violence he will again unleash on Nigeria after the Presidential election, his supporters have been stoning the convoy of President Jonathan in some parts of the north each time he goes there to campaign.”
