The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said Nigeria will remain with the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite the recent pull out of some African nations.

Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia have publicly announced their intention to pull out of the ICC.

Spokesperson of the ministry, Clement Aduku disclosed the decision on Wednesday.

Aduku said Nigeria still remains with the ICC just like foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama had said.

The African Union had called for collective withdrawal of its members from the court.

But Onyeama says Nigeria and other countries believe that the court has an important role to play in holding leaders accountable.

“Nigeria is not the only voice against it; in fact, Senegal is speaking very strongly against it. Cape Verde and other countries are also against it. What AU did was to set up a committee to elaborate a strategy for collective withdrawal.

“After, Senegal took the floor, Nigeria took the floor, Cape Verde and some other countries made it clear that they were not going to subscribe to that decision,” he said.

The minister also said countries like

Zambia, Tanzania, Liberia, Botswana and others were unwilling to withdraw from the court.

“Each country freely and willingly acceded to the Treaty and not all of the members of the AU acceded; each country acceded individually, exercising its own sovereign right.

“So, if each country wants to withdraw, it has the right to do that individually.’ AU, which was not a party to the Rome Statute that established the court, should not be developing a strategy for a collective withdrawal for something that each country entered into individually.

“Those who feel they want to withdraw should do that individually,” Onyeama said.