How Nigerian judge, Chile Eboe-Osuji was elected President of the International Criminal Court 

Nigerian born judge, Chile Eboe-Osuji has been elected as the new President of the International Court of Justice.

BlackBox Nigeria gathered that Chile Eboe-Osuji was elected on Sunday, March 11, 2018 in a plenary session of the judges. His tenure is expected to run for three years as he takes over from Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi of Argentina.

The International Criminal Court has 19 justices who are elected on nine-year term basis and Justice Eboe-Osuji is one of them.

Judge Robert Fremr of Czech Republic was also elected First Vice-President while Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France emerged Second Vice-President.

While accepting the victory, the new President said, “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 so

Born in Isiala Mbano, Imo State on September 2, 1962, Chile Eboe-Osuji obtained his LLB from the University of Calabar before proceeding to McGill University, Canada where he got his Masters. He also got his Doctorate in Law at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986 then went on to work in Canada briefly in 1993. In 1997, Eboe-Osuji worked at the International Criminal Tribunal as Rwanda’s Prosecution counsel amongst other places before he later got appointed as the Legal Advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for human Rights in 2010.

An author of two books, Chile Eboe-Osuji got elected as a judge of the ICC in December 16, 2011 and sworn-in on March 11, 2012. Six years after, he has been elected the President of the court, a honor highly regarded globally.