[JURIST] At a news conference before the Associated Press on Thursday, activist Yunana Shibkau and Goran Sluiter, an attorney for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], announced they have video evidence of 2015 Nigerian presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari [BBC backgrounder] instigating and inciting violence after he lost the 2011 elections, which resulted in the death of some 800 people. Yunana Shibkau of the Nigerian human rights group Northern Coalition of Democracy and Justice (NCDJ) said they will use the video recordings of Buhari, a former military dictator, to convince the ICC to charge Buhari with crimes against humanity. Sluiter said the video shows Buhari suggesting [AP report] the killing and lynching of non-supporters. Thursday’s news conference took place three weeks before the February 14 elections, with the hope that the claims will preempt any election violence. Buhari’s campaign has denied the claims and said that this is a ploy to damage his presidential campaign. Buhari’s supporters say he is in a better position than President Goodluck Jonathan [BBC backgrounder] to halt Boko Haram’s violence in the northeastern Islamic uprising, which has become increasingly more violent and deadly.

The NCDJ alleged in December the 2011 violence included acts of murder, torture and rape [JURIST report] systematically directed at perceived non-supporters of Buhari. Buhari has been chosen as the candidate for the All Progressives Congress party, though approval for him has been mixed. Buhari was the military ruler of Nigeria from 1984 to 1985 and was deposed in a coup. He has a poor human rights record due to repressive tactics. The NCDJ previously referred Buhari to the ICC in 2011 and decided to submit more evidence after he emerged as the main candidate in the presidential elections. Nigeria became a party to the Rome Statute in 2001, establishing the ICC’s jurisdiction. Earlier this month human rights group Access to Justice [advocacy website] and eight other civil rights groups brought [JURIST report] Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan before the Federal High Court [official website] in Abuja with the goal of forcing an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by members of the Nigerian military and the state-sponsored militias, the Civilian Joint Task Force [CFR backgrounder].