2011 post-election violence: ECOWAS Court adjourns hearing

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has adjourned until December 8 the hearing in a case of alleged human rights violation filed by the Registered Trustees of Jama’a Foundation against the Federal Government.
The plaintiff is seeking N105 billion in compensation in its case brought before the court on January 16, 2014.
The damages sought are over the alleged death of 800 people and the displacement of 60,000 others in the violence that followed the 2011 presidential election.
In the suit, number ECW/CCJ/APP/26/13, the organisation said that the deaths, destruction and displacement, which affected some of its members, constituted a sustained violation of their right to life.
The presiding Judge, Justice Chijoke Nwoke, on Monday also ordered counsel to the plaintiff to “produce clean copies” of the documents and serve same to the defendants and the court.
Nwoke further ordered the counsel to the plaintiffs to make available copies of his list of witnesses.
Nwoke said: “We are going to take all applications on the same day and make one judgement; plaintiff is ordered to produce its witnesses on the next adjourned date.”
Counsel to the Plaintiff, Akola Mustapha, had earlier requested the court to grant his orders in an amended document filed to join a party to the case and to direct the defendants to produce certain documents.
The court, however, granted three out of the nine orders stated in the document.
The death of lead counsel to the organisation, Abudulfatai Bello, in October 2015 stalled hearing in the case.
The court has, however, heard the case on several adjourned dates since then.
The applicants in the suit are asking the court to declare that the Federal Government failed to protect lives and property during the 2011 presidential election.
Government’s failure, the applicants insisted, is a violation of their rights as provided for in the relevant treaties and conventions.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to direct the defendants to implement the recommendations of the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu’s investigative panel set up by the Nigerian government in the wake of crises.