Abuja court summons Taylor over alleged war crimes
H E may currently be enjoying Nigeria's protection from prosecution by the United Nations-backed court in Sierra-Leone, but exiled Liberian President Charles Taylor seems destined to answer for his alleged crimes against humanity, anyhow.
This time, however, Taylor is to face trial in a Nigerian court.
A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered his host, Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State, to deliver court summons for him in a case by two Nigerian businessmen who were brutally amputated in 1999 during the civil war in Sierra-Leone.
The processes include motion ex-parte, affidavit in support of the motion, an earlier ruling of the court and subsequent documents relating to the petition.
Justice Stephen Adah gave the order at the resumed hearing of the petition filed by the Nigerian businessmen.
The petitioners, Emmanuel Egbuna and David Anyaele, are challenging the refugee status` granted to Taylor by President Olusegun Obasanjo on August 1, 2003.
They sought the order of substituted service through the host governor on the ground that Taylor was not represented in court in spite of the earlier service through some Nigerian newspapers.
The government granted Taylor political asylum on humanitarian grounds to save the peace process in Liberia, which enabled him to arrive in Nigeria in August 11, and later settled down with his family in Calabar.
The petitioners alleged that Taylor was indicted for war crimes and several crimes against humanity, violation of Article 3 Common to Geneva Conventions as well as other serious violation of humanitarian laws.
They sought an order quashing the refugee status granted Taylor, contending that the asylum had precluded his trial before the said special court.
In support of the affidavits, the petitioners recounted the brutal treatment against them and other Nigerians during the civil war, which they alleged was "largely engineered and financed by Taylor."
"The rebels isolated Nigerians from the other captives and began amputating their forelimbs.
"After amputating me, the rebels set me on fire and told me to go and deliver their message to the Nigerian government," Anyaele, executive director of the Amputee Rehabilitation Foundation, said.
Egbuna, who was lucky to get his mutilated limbs stitched together, also recounted his experience in the affidavit.
"They cut off the hands of my younger brother, Benedict, from beneath the elbow, they dumped him at the cemetery behind the house and he bled to death in front of me and his pregnant wife," he said.
"The machete cut through the flesh and the bones of my hands, but did not entirely severe them with my hands dangling from my arms, the rebels dumped me at the cemetery," he added.
Joined as co-defendants in the suit are the National Commission for Refugees, President Obasanjo and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Adah, who had on May 31 granted an order to review the asylum status of Taylor, adjourned further hearing in the petition till July 1.
President Obasanjo had offered Taylor asylum to end Liberia's bitter war. He, however, warned that Nigeria would not yield to pressures to hand him over. The Nigerian leader has since refused to release the former Liberian leader despite rulings to that effect by the UN-backed court on the Sierra Leonean war and pressures from the United States government.
The asylum has, however, been criticised by several citizens and groups. The All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP), for instance, sharply protested the decision by President Obasanjo.
The ANPP, in a statement issued on Tuesday, July 8, last year by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Abdulrahoof Bello, said the asylum was an affront to Nigerians, especially the widows and children of peace-keepers and the families of Nigerians killed by Taylor in the Liberian crisis.
The statement recalled the brutal murder by Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of two Nigerian journalists, Krees Imodibe of 'The Guardian newspapers and Tayo Awotusin of 'The Champion.
"The bodies of Awotusin and Imodibe shall turn in their graves to learn that the country they served and died for has betrayed them by granting an asylum to the man who was responsible for their untimely death while performing their lawful duties"', the party lamented.
It queried: "Has the President forgotten so soon that President Taylor's soldiers attacked the Nigerian Embassy in Monrovia and killed many innocent Nigerians taking refuge in the Embassy
- ...We are of the opinion that President Obasanjo is carrying too far, the ego of Nigeria, being a big brother in the West-African sub-region by appearing to have loved President Charles Taylor more than the Nigerian journalists who were murdered by Charles Taylor against international conventions", they said.
The party asked President Obasanjo to "withdraw the asylum and discontinue the discussions and advised him to consider the diplomatic and domestic implications of his current mission to Liberia in pursuit of his foreign policy.
Taylor was indicted by the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone for his involvement in what has been labelled as the most 'cruel' war in West African conflict history. He first denied his involvement but later admitted, stating "national security concern" as a justification.
During the Liberian civil war, most West African nationals, mainly Nigerians and Ghanaians, were targeted by forces of Taylor's NPFL in the early 1990s largely because of the involvement of their countries in the regional peace-keeping operations that Taylor considered an obstacle to capture the country militarily.
