CHILE EBOE-OSUJI ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

ICC President, Chile Eboe-Osuji

BY SAM ELEANYA

A 55 year old Nigerian jurist, Judge Eboe-Osuji, who was born in Anara, Imo State, and who obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Calabar, Nigeria has emerged President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a three year tenure.

Called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986, Chile practised briefly at home before moving to Canada where he obtained a Masters Degree from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec and then had a stint as a Barrister after being called to the Bar of Ontario and British Columbia in 1993. The period 1997 t0 2005 saw him working at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR as prosecution counsel and senior legal officer to the judges of the tribunal. After another stint in Canada as a barrister and a law lecturer, he was appointed as senior prosecution appeals counsel for the Special Court of Sierra Leone culminating in his return to the ICTR as Head of Chambers, 2008 – 2010. In 2010, he was appointed as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, holding concurrently, a cross-appointment as the principal prosecution appeals counsel at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the case of Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia who was accused of crimes against humanity.

On 16 December 2011, Eboe-Osuji was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court, ICC. Sworn in 9 March, 2012, he notably presided – alongside Judges Olga Venecia Herrera Carbucci and Robert Fremr – over the prosecution of Deputy President of Kenya, Willam Ruto, who was accused of stoking a wave of killing for political gain after the country’s 2007 elections.

The announcement of his election as President of the Court was contained in a statement posted on ICC website on Sunday which reads:

“Today, 11 March 2018, the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sitting in a plenary session, elected Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji (Nigeria) as President of the Court for a three-year term with immediate effect. Judge Robert Fremr(Czech Republic) was elected First Vice-President and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut (France) Second Vice-President.”

The statement also contained the new President’s acceptance statement viz:.

“I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously.

“I look forward to working together with them as well as with all the judges, all the Officials and the staff of the Court in a spirit of collegiality. I also look forward to collaborating with the Assembly of States Parties, civil society and the international community at large, acting together to strengthen and reinforce the Rome Statute system, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of which we celebrate this year”, President Chile Eboe-Osuji stated following the election.

“I am also grateful to the previous President, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and Vice-Presidents, Judges Joyce Aluoch and Kuniko Ozaki, for their work and leadership,” he added.

As President, Chile would head up the Court’s presidency which under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the ICC’s establishment and governing law, the Presidency is also responsible for the general administration of the Court, with the exception of the Office of the Prosecutor – which it however works with to secure concurrence on matters of mutual concern.

Chile Eboe-Osuji, having already joined the exclusive ranks of Nigerians who have served on Global courts would be joining the super-exclusive club of Nigerians to head up such courts.

The first club includes the pioneering international jurists of Nigeria who have straddled the jurisprudential heights of the World Court. It is a list that is only three names long: Charles D. Onyeama, (father of Nigeria’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geofrey Onyeama) who served at the International Court of Justice, ICJ  1967 to 1976 and was also Judge at the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, 1982 to 1990; the eminent Taslim Olawale Elias (who holds the record as the longest serving Judge of the International Court of Justice, 1976–1991); and Prince Bola Ajibola, retired member of International Court of Justice, who served between 1991–1994  and whose career was highlighted by his minority judgment in Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria: Equatorial Guinea intervening).

Chile Eboe-Osuji would by this elevation join only Taslim Olawale Elias (ICJ Vice President (1979–1982) and ICJ President (1982–1985) as another Nigerian export to the highest offices of first rate Global courts.

Other Nigerians connected with international tribunals as members include Mrs Funke Adekoya, SAN who currently serves on the Panel of Arbitrators of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on a 6 year tenure which commenced on 16^th September, 2017; Justice Friday C. Nwoke who serves as a judge of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice and following in the footsteps of Hon Justice Hansin N. Donli who had also served as the Court’s member and Dean (between 2001 and 2014); and Justice Elsie Nwanuri Thompson, now of the Rivers State High Court,  who also sat on the African Court on Human and People’s Rights for a 6 year term which commenced on 27^th July, 2010 and ended in 2016 with her elevation as Vice President of the Court (2014-2016).