The ECOWAS Court has dismissed a suit brought by 43 persons who claimed to have lost properties in the post-election violence that accompanied the 2011 presidential election in Nigeria’s Kano State but were excluded from the compensation paid by the government to the victims.

Delivering judgment in the suit filed by Daniel Agada Okoh and 42 others, Justice Edward Amoako Asante who read the judgment said that the Applicants were afforded equal opportunity before the Respondent state’s panel of enquiry to present their case for compensation and they did not present convincing evidence to prove/support their claims before the ECOWAS Court.

Consequently, Justice Asante, who is the Judge Rapporteur in the suit said that the Court found no violations of the Applicants’ rights evoked in Articles 2, 4, 6, 13(1), 14 and 23(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right.

The Court also declared the application on behalf of the purported 106 other Applicants as inadmissible on the grounds of anonymity.

The Court had on 2 March 2020 dismissed the preliminary objection raised by the Respondent challenging the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the matter alleging it concerned non-payment of compensation and that the suit was statute barred since it was filed three years after the cause of action.

It held instead that it had jurisdiction since the Applicant premised his case on human rights violation and that the limitation period to file cause of action had not elapsed.

The Applicants comprising 43 Nigerians suing on behalf of themselves and 106 others mainly tenants and shop owners residing in Nigeria’s Kano state filed the application ECW/CC/APP/37/16 on 13 October 2016 in which they blamed their plight on the failure of the Respondent to provide security (to them) during the violence as well as discrimination in the compensation of the victims.

The Applicants averred the Respondent acknowledged its failure to protect lives and properties when it instituted a panel of enquiry headed by Sheikh Ahmed Lemu to identify the spread and extent of losses across the country and make recommendations.

They affirmed that the panel of enquiry on 9 July 2011 held public investigations in Kano state where the Applicants reside and that they were among those invited and whose complaints and submissions were documented.

They added that the Respondent released the total sum of 5,700,000,000 Naira as compensation of which 944,827,000 Naira was allocated to Kano State for verified victims.

The Applicants alleged that the omission of their names from the list of beneficiaries in favour of mainly landlords of houses and places of worship amounted to violation of their right to freedom from discrimination and right to equality before the law.

They claimed that all efforts including letters and pleas to seek redress before the Respondent state were unsuccessful.

They urged the Court to hold the Respondent liable for the violations and pay the sum of 16, 500,000,000 as compensation to the Applicants.

On their part, the Respondent averred that it provided security to ensure peaceful elections and that following riots in some states, it set up a panel of enquiry headed by a distinguished scholar and thereafter, implemented the approved report.

The Respondent further averred that the Applicants had failed to present receipts and proofs of ownership of properties or police report showing the nature and number of properties destroyed to support their claims.

The Respondent added that this suit was an abuse of court process since the subject-matter had been decided by a national court where it was struck out.

In a counter argument, the Applicants submitted that the suit was struck out at the national court following their withdrawal of the matter and to enable them initiate an application for redress before the ECOWAS Court.

Also on the panel were Justices Dupe Atoki and Januaria Moreira Costa.