ECOWAS Court Dismissed a Human Rights Suit Brought Against the FG of Nigeria
News: 21/5/2025
The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice dismissed a human rights suit that was brought against the Federal Government of Nigeria by a group called the Lawyers Alert Initiative for Protecting the Rights of Children, Women, and Indigent. The court said they lack of jurisdiction and the victims cannot be identified.
The group in their process asked the court to declare some sections in the Penal Code Act and Criminal Code Act, particularly Sections 401, 405(1)(c), 405, 246, 224, and 250 unconstitutional under the regional human rights frameworks. That the provisions, aids unnecessary arrests and detentions of specific group of persons, sex workers also because of vagrancy laws.
They further said the laws violate the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as it relates to the protection liberty, dignity, equality, fair trial, and freedom of movement.
Hon. Justice Ricardo Goncalves, Hon. Justice Sengu M. Koroma, and Hon. Justice Edward Asante in their unanimous ruling, struck out the suit for lack of jurisdiction and unidentified victims. That the suit is not specific but general and therefore has a theoretical challenge to national legislation, the court held. That the court can only exercise jurisdiction where a prima facie case of human rights violation shows identified victims.
Additionally, the judges said, though the court has jurisdiction over human rights violations in member states under Article 9(4) of its Protocol but the court is not constitutional and cannot give opinions on the validity of national laws expect the breaches of human rights affects identified individuals.
The group submitted reports and statistics of offenses in Nigeria from the year 2022 and 2023, the court ruled that it did not meet the threshold for admissibility. That the submission did not have sworn affidavits, testimonies that can verified, judicial decisions, or news reports identifying victims harmed by the laws in question. The court made reference to an earlier decided case of Hissène Habré and said the role of the court is adjudicatory and not advisory. The court decided that:
“The ECOWAS court does not have the power to conduct a theoretical review of national legislation, concrete and direct harm must be shown.”
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