ECOWAS Court Slams $3.3m Fine On Nigeria Over Apo 8 Killing

THE Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) court has ordered Nigeria to pay a fine of $3.3 million over the extra-judicial killing of eight citizens in the Apo District of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory Apo on September 20, 2013.

The court, ruled that the country would pay a compensatory damage of $200,000 to each of the family of its citizens killed and $150,000 to each of the injured by a combined team of soldiers and operatives of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) during a invasion of an uncompleted building in the Apo Area of Abuja.

Those killed are Nura Abdullahi, Ashiru Musa, Abdullahi Manmman, Buhari Ibrahim, Suleiman Ibrahim, Ahmadu Musa, Nasir Adamu and Musa Yobe while eleven others sustained various degrees of injuries from the combined shootings of the soldiers and DSS operatives.

They are Muttaka Abubakar, Sani Abdulrahman, Nuhu Ibrahim, Ibrahim Mohammed, Ibrahim Aliyu and Yahaya Bello, Abubakar Auwal, Yusuf Abubakar, Ibrahim Bala, Murtala Salihu and Sanni Usman who were reported to have escaped death by the whiskers.

Following the arbitrary killings and maltreatment, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), ‘The Incorporated Trustees of Fiscal and Civil Right Enlightenment Foundation’, had on behalf of the deceased dragged Nigeria, the Army and Department of State Security Services before the ECOWAS Court over these atrocious conducts.

In the judgment of the ECOWAS court delivered by presiding Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke, Nigeria was found liable to breach of fundamental rights of citizens to life and therefore ruled that the killing as barbaric, illegal and unconstitutional and rejected the plea by Nigeria that the actions of the armed officers took place on self-defence alleging that the deceased with others numerous in number attempted to over-power them..

Justice Nwoke however rejected the pleas stating that no evidence indicated that the claim was true and adding that the onus of prove rests on the defendant to establish a reasonable cause for taking away lives arbitrarily which was not proved.

Consequently, he concluded that the action of the security personnel constituted a serious abuse of power and misuse of firearms against citizens and must be penalized accordingly.

“There is no evidence of any attempt that the deceased and the survivors attempted to harm the security personnel. There is no evidence of recovered guns. There is no evidence of bullet or pellets recovered from the deceased and tendered before this court to prove the claim that the Nigerian security personnel acted in self-defence when they stormed the house of the deceased.

“Rather, the evidence abounds that the victims were unarmed while the security personnel were the one that opened fire on the innocent and the defenseless citizens.”