The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has dismissed six-year application number: CW/CCJ/JUD/08/21 filed by the registered trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the federal government.
The Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations at the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, said in a judgment which was delivered on April 26, 2021 the Court which was presided over by Hon. Justice Edward Amoaka Asante, with Justice Gberi-Be Outattara and Justice Januaria T. Silva Moreira Costa as members, declared the application inadmissible.
The statement disclosed that SERAP, through its solicitors, Mrs. Olufunmilola Falana and Olusola Egbeyinka, of Falana and Falana Chambers had on April 4, 2016 filed an application at the ECOWAS against “violation of human rights of Nigerians and other individuals”.
Such rights according to the applicants included the rights to life, to security of the human persons, to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and right of property, guaranteed by Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 14 of the African Charter, Articles 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 2 and 6(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The federal government solicitors; T.A Gazali (SAN) and Adedayo Ogundele, all of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja advanced responses ranging from: Denying committing any violation against some groups, settlement of compensation, and contention that most of the issues were either settled, or at the appeal courts for further interpretation and final resolution.
The Court further maintained that even where jurisdiction of Court is established, according to Article 10(d) of the Supplementary Protocol of the Court as amended, an application whose subject matter concerns human rights violation shall only be admissible when three criteria are met: the applicant’s status as “victims” must be established, the non-anonymity of the application and the absence of litis pendence before another international Court or Tribunal.
According to the judgment: “The Applicant having purportedly initiated the instant action on behalf of a community or group which lacks proper identification, Applicant’s locus standing in the matter cannot be sustained to admit the case for determination.
“Consequently, the action cannot be admitted under such a fatal capacity of the applicant and same is dismissed in its entirety”.
“It must be further observed that the Applicant NGO has not been directly affected by the alleged violations, therefore it does not fulfill the requirement of being a victim on its own right”.
