News

ECOWAS court dismisses Nnamdi Kanu’s $800m suit against FG

Published

December 12, 2019

NSCDC nabs 6 suspected cultists, recover arms in C'River Ada Wodu, Calabar The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested six suspected cultists and recovered two locally made pistols from them. Cross River State Commandant, Mr Samuel Fadeyi disclosed this in Calabar on Monday and said the suspects were arrested in a hotel in Calabar. According to Fadeyi, who resumed as Commandant of the Corps in the state on June 15, no suspected criminal will go scot-free, adding that the six suspects were undergoing profiling and that under his watch, arrested suspects will be prosecuted. "Within my first week of arrival, some group of boys lodged in a hotel where I kept my escorts and on the basis of suspicion, we had to raid them. "After the arrest, we found two locally made pistols with them. We are currently profiling the suspects as we speak," he said. Fadeyi said the command has zero tolerance for vandalism, oil theft, transformer theft, adulteration of petroleum products which most times leads to explosion and health risks. He said the Command was currently carrying out a risk-threat assessment of critical infrastructure in the state, starting with Calabar as the state capital and assured of his Command's commitment and collaboration with other security agencies to prevent crime in the state.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has dismissed a suit brought by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, alleging torture, assault, inhuman treatment and the violation of his property rights by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Kanu, who is also the Director of Radio Biafra, registered under the regulatory laws of the United Kingdom and the United Nations, demanded $800 million in compensation.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Dupe Atoki, leading a three-man panel, held that Kanu had failed to prove the claims and dismissed the request for compensation.

MORE READING! NFL star Tank Dell injured in Florida shooting

The judge also ruled that Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest and detention were not unlawful and arbitrary as claimed by the Plaintiff.

While the Court acknowledged that Mr. Kanu had the legal capacity to approach the Court for the alleged violation of his human rights, it adjudged that without a mandate, he lacked the legal personality to represent the IPOB before the Court.

MORE READING! NANS demands end to fuel scarcity

On the issue of proper parties before the Court, the names of the second and third defendants (Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Director-General, State Security Service) who are not signatories to the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, were struck out of the suit as improper parties, leaving the 1st defendant, the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the sole defendant in the case.

Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, filed the case before the Court on 3rd March 2016.

MORE READING! Tinubu urges Samsung CEO to see Nigeria as investment destination

Kanu claimed that his rights to life, personal integrity, privacy, fair trial, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, personal liberty, freedom of association, private property, right to existence and right to self-determination were violated following his arrest and detention by agents of Nigeria.

He also alleged that he was a victim of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture inhuman and degrading treatment while in detention and that his personal belongings were confiscated by the defendant through its agent.