THE COMPLEMENTARY JURISDICTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, THE PRINCIPLE OF COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE NIGERIA CRIMINAL LIABILITY REGIME

Abstract

This essay set out to study The Complementary Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the Principle of Command Responsibility in International Law and the Nigeria Criminal Liability Regime. It adopted the doctrinal methods of legal research with heavy recourse, as it were, to books, journal articles, international law documents and the like for its execution. It was discovered that the manifest absence of the international principle of command responsibility in Nigerian municipal law could be exploited by war criminals to escape liability for offences which they would otherwise have been convicted and punished for, were the trials to be conducted before the ICC. It recommended that the Rome Statute should be amended so that it confers primary jurisdiction on the ICC in cases where municipal investigation, trial and law are likely to conflict with the principle of command responsibility or any principle of international law that could substantially alter the finding of municipal courts in a manner that form bases for the escape of international criminals.