SERAP Sues FG At ECOWAS Court Over Herdsmen Killings

SERAP Sues FG At ECOWAS Court Over Herdsmen Killings

Adeboye   16:50:00   No comments:

The Registered Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project have urged the Economic Community of West African States Court in Abuja to hold the Federal Government responsible for various violent incidents across the country leading to loss of property and human lives.

The plaintiffs accused the Federal Government of permitting human rights violations in form of killings, raping and maiming of citizens by violent herdsmen, military and police operatives because the Federal Government allegedly failed to address the situation.

The plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who reportedly filed the suit marked ECW/CCJ/APP/15/16 on behalf of his client on Tuesday, alleged that the Federal Government had failed to prevent,investigate and prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses including violent herdsmen and brutal police and military operatives.

Falana claimed that the alleged failure of the Federal Government to do due diligence in preventing, investigating and prosecution cases of rights abuses had occasioned a breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

According to Falana, the alleged failure of the Federal Government had also occasioned a breach of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

For these breaches, the plaintiffs are urging the ECOWAS Court to make an order compelling the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibilities and fulfill its obligation of securing the lives and property of its citizens.

The plaintiffs also want the ECOWAS Court to compel the Federal Government to pay N50m compensation to the dependants of each of the victims of violent killings by violent herdsmen and brutal police and military operatives.

They are also urging the ECOWAS Court to order the Federal Government to undertake measures that will forestall future recurrence of unlawful killings by herdsmen, police and military operative.

In the affidavit filed in support of the suit, the plaintiffs argued that the Federal Government ought to have known that there were immediate threat and should have taken preventive measures, which it allegedly failed to take, in all those cases of violent and unlawful killings by herdsmen, police and military operatives.

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PanamaPapers: SERAP Wants Indicted Nigerian Leaders Probed

PanamaPapers: SERAP Wants Indicted Nigerian Leaders Probed

Adeboye   10:20:00   No comments:

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project says it is giving the Code of Conduct Bureau only 14 days to commence the probe of Nigeria’s past and serving public officials indicted in the PanamaPapers scam.

The group, which decried the extent to which Nigerian public officials had gone in breaching the code of conduct by going to conceal stolen wealth in offshore jurisdictions, said it would sue the CCB if a probe of those indicted in the PanamaPapers did not start in 14 days.


In a statement on Sunday by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP said it was important for the CCB to leverage on the revelations in the PanamaPapers in demonstration of its readiness to combat the abuse of asset declaration requirements by Nigerian public officials.

It said unless the CCB probed and prosecuted the high-ranking public officers indicted in the PanamaPapers, it would lose public credibility.

It urged the CCB chairman, Mr. Sam Samba, to “use your good offices and leadership to urgently investigate current and immediate-past high-ranking public officers named in the PanamaPapers and others that are maintaining and operating or have maintained and operated foreign accounts in other safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions, and to where appropriate, refer such officers to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for prosecution.”

The statement added, “We would be grateful if the bureau could begin to take these steps within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps the bureau is taking to address the concerns raised in this letter, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel the bureau to effectively discharge its constitutional and statutory mandates in this instance.

“SERAP also believes that bodies like the Code of Conduct Bureau should now seize the opportunity and use its mandate to react to this international scandal by taking concrete and proactive steps to address increasing breaches of constitutional provisions by high-ranking public officers.

“This action will be entirely consistent with the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), the law establishing the bureau, and will meet demands by Nigerians for improvement in transparency regarding asset declaration and sanctions of public officers for breaches.”

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