ECOWAS court orders FG to pay torture victim N5m

ECOWAS court orders FG to pay torture victim N5m

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice has ordered the federal government to pay N5 million in compensation to Oluwatimilehin Adebayo, a man who was subjected to torture while in Ogun State Police custody.

The court also ordered the government to “conduct a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the torture and prosecute those responsible”.

“The ECOWAS Court of Justice has on 3 December 2024, delivered judgment in the case of Oluwatimilehin Adebayo v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (ECW/CCJ/APP/47/23), ordering the Federal Republic of Nigeria to pay N5 million in compensation to the Applicant for the violation of his right to freedom from torture,” the court’s website shared on Wednesday.

“The case arose from the brutal treatment of Mr Oluwatimilehin Adebayo by police officers in Ogun State, who subjected him to severe physical abuse, including beating him with the handle of an axe and tying his limbs with chains to a pole. This ordeal caused him physical injuries, including trauma to his scrotum, and left him suffering from significant psychological distress.”

Adebayo narrated to the court that some police officers from Ogun state tortured him severely. He specifically stated that he was beaten with an axe handle while his limbs were tied with chains to a pole.

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He also mentioned that the aftermath of the severe torture caused several physical injuries, one of which was a scrotal trauma which subsequently led to a psychological breakdown.

The Nigerian government, the respondent in the case, argued that the case was filed too late. They argued that the case was filed outside the three-year limitation period stipulated under the ECOWAS Court’s rules, rendering it statute-barred.

They also challenged the ECOWAS Court’s jurisdiction on the case, arguing that it would involve reviewing a case that was either pending (sub judice) or already decided by a municipal court within Nigeria, the respondent state.

The ECOWAS Court, however, clarified that the three-year benchmark that the Nigerian government appealed to as contained in Article 9(3)(b) of the ECOWAS Court protocol, did not apply to cases of human rights violation.

Justice Dupe Atoki held that the acts Adebayo suffered at the hands of Nigeria’s police were acts of torture and that they violated Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

“In the judgment delivered by Justice Dupe Atoki, the court held that these acts constituted torture, violating Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a party,” a part of the judgement reads.

 

ECOWAS court orders FG to pay torture victim N5m