President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominee for Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has been deemed unfit for the position and lacking in knowledge of the working of the court.
Buhari nominated Ishaq Usman Bello, chief judge of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court as Nigeria’s candidate in June 2020.
The ICC advisory committee on the nomination of judges said in its assessment report that Bello lacked knowledge of the workings of the court.
The committee screened 20 candidates, 10 were ranked “highly qualified”, three were “qualified” while seven including Bello were “formally qualified”.
Those in the third category will likely not be selected for the position.
According to the committee’s report on Bello: “where his dissertation was on the topic of individual criminal responsibility under the Rome Statute, the candidate appeared notably to have very limited knowledge of the Rome Statute, the practices and procedures of the court and its jurisprudence”.
“Based on both his professional experience as well as his answers during the interview, and bearing in mind particularly his lack of detailed knowledge of the workings of the court, the committee concluded that the candidate was only formally qualified for appointment as judge of the International Criminal Court,” the report said.
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