The International Criminal Court (ICC) has dismissed a petition calling for an investigation into alleged “systemic kidnappings in Nigeria as crimes against humanity”.
The petition was rejected by Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC on September 1, 2026, amid increasing concerns over kidnapping incidents across Nigeria.
The decision was issued by Rosario Salvatore Aitala, the presiding judge, alongside judges Sergio Godínez and Haykel Mahfoudh.
According to the decision published on the ICC website, the court’s registrar transmitted the petition, which was submitted by an unnamed individual, to the president of the Pre-Trial Division on August 24, 2026.
The petition was titled “Formal Communication Requesting Investigation into Systemic Kidnappings in Nigeria as Crimes Against Humanity”.
After the petition was assigned to Pre-Trial Chamber II on August 26, the three-member panel dismissed it on the grounds that it lacked “any legal basis”.
FG faults ICC’s handling of anonymous petition
However, Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, criticised the process through which the petition was assigned to the chamber.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Fagbemi said it was improper for the president of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Division to assign an unverified filing from an anonymous individual to Pre-Trial Chamber II.
He argued that the petition was assigned without first determining whether the chamber had the legal authority to consider the matter or whether the complaint was manifestly frivolous.
“The Federal Government notes with serious concern that on 26th August 2026, the President of the Pre-Trial Division improperly initiated a procedural process by assigning an unverified filing from an anonymous submitter to Pre-Trial Chamber II, purportedly pursuant to Regulation 46(3) of the Regulations of the Court,” the statement reads.
“This administrative assignment was executed without a prior, reasoned threshold determination on the competence of the Pre-Trial Chamber or whether the communication was manifestly frivolous, thereby breaching the foundational procedural safeguards established under the Court’s own regulations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, internal administrative guidelines cannot be used to bypass the strict rules established under the Rome Statute.
“The authority to evaluate information or request an investigation rests solely with the Prosecutor of the ICC, or through formal referrals by a State Party or the UN Security Council. The Rome Statute gives neither the President of the Pre-Trial Division nor any Pre-Trial Chamber the power to receive anonymous petitions or interfere in the internal security matters of a sovereign nation.
“The Federal Government emphasizes that such procedural breaches risk casting an unnecessary shadow over the integrity of the Court’s judicial processes.
“Unchecked administrative entertainments of unverified, anonymous requests have the potential to impugn and strain the progress, mutual respect, and constructive cooperation painstakingly built over the years between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the International Criminal Court.”.
Fagbemi assured Nigerians that the ICC had not commenced any investigation against the Nigerian government, the Nigerian state or its institutions.