ECOWAS Court of Justice has in its judgment delivered on Thursday, ordered the Federal Government to pay ₦10m as compensation to one Glory Okolie over her unlawful detention and maltreatment by the police.
The three-member panel that presided over the case included Honourable Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves (presiding and judge rapporteur), Honourable Justice Sengu Mohamed Koroma, and Honourable Justice Edward Amoako Asante.
According to the case filed by Glory Okolie alongside One Love Foundation and the Incorporated Trustees of Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation, Glory Okolie was denied legal representation, subjected to forced labour, as well as physically abused during her detention.
The applicants contended that the actions of the Police didn’t only violate the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights but also the Revised ECOWAS Treaty.
However in its defence, the Federal Government being the respondent alleged that Glory Okolie was associated with the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that has been proscribed in Nigeria for alleged terrorist activities and as such, her detention by the Police was legal.
The respondent further claimed that her detention was pivotal strictly for the purpose of national security.
Dissatisfied with the argument of the respondent, Justice Ricardo Gonçalves of the Ecowas Court ruled that the prolonged detention of Glory Okolie without any form of judicial oversight infringed on her fundamental rights to liberty and fair trial as stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter.
Implications of ECOWAS Court Order;
The court, thereafter ordered that the Federal Government pay Glory Okolie ₦10 million damages as well as to cease and desist from all forms of further harassment against her.
It also emphasized on the need for safeguards to be put in place so as to prevent a recurrence of such act.
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