The ECOWAS Court of Justice, in a judgment delivered yesterday, held the Federal Republic of Nigeria accountable for the unlawful detention and mistreatment of a Nigerian student, Glory Okolie.
The court also awarded ₦10 million in compensation and issued directives to safeguard human rights.
The Nigerian police authorities had detained Gloria Okolie on June 13, 2021 without judicial authorisation when she was arrested by IRT officers and held for a staggering 248 days without trial or legal justification for allegedly being an IPOB spy.
According to the applicants, Okolie was denied access to legal counsel, subjected to forced labour, and physically abused during her detention.
The applicants argued that these actions breached several human rights instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, seeking declarations, reparations, and a cessation of Nigeria’s unlawful conduct.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria refuted the claims, citing Okolie’s alleged connection to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed group linked to terrorist activities. The Respondent justified her detention as a matter of national security.
In the Judgment delivered by Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, the Judge Rapporteur, the Court found that Okolie’s prolonged detention without judicial authorization contravened Article 7 of the African Charter, violating her right to a fair trial.
The Court also found that her deprivation of liberty, absent legal justification, breached Article 6 of the African Charter. Therefore, it ordered the Federal Republic of Nigeria to compensate Glory Okolie by paying her ₦10 million for the violations she suffered. It also ordered the Federal Republic of Nigeria to cease the harassment, ensuring non-repetition of such acts.
The three-member panel of the Court presided by judge rapporteur, Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, along with Justices Sengu Mohamed Koroma and Justice Edward Amoako Asante, also dismissed the claims of the co-applicant NGOs for procedural reasons.
