The ECOWAS Court of Justice on Thursday dismissed a suit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, seeking N50 million in compensation for each victim of the Abuja–Kaduna train attack, which occurred in March 2022.
Recall that on 28 March 2022, terrorists bombed a section of the Abuja–Kaduna rail line near Rigasa, Kaduna. The explosion targeted a passenger train carrying over 970 people, resulting in 10 fatalities, injuries, and abductions.
More than 150 victims of the incident are reportedly still missing. In May this year, authorities announced the arrest of the mastermind of the train attack, Ibrahim Abdulahi, who is also known as “Mande”.
Delivering judgement, the ECOWAS Court held that SERAP’s claims were inadmissible due to the failure to satisfy the “victim status” requirement under Article 10(d) of the ECOWAS Protocol, which is essential for the initiation of such litigation.
Justice Dupe Atoki, who delivered the ruling, explained that despite SERAP’s claim to be acting in the public interest, the suit lacked the necessary “victim status” to proceed as public interest litigation.
“The court recognises its jurisdiction to hear the case as it involved potential human rights violations within a member state, in accordance with Article 9(4) of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol,” he explained.
Justice Atoki further clarified, “However, the court determines that the case does not meet the criteria for a public interest action, or actio popularis, which requires that the alleged violations affect a large, indeterminate segment of the public or the general public itself.”
The court ruled that the victims of the attack were identifiable individuals, not an indeterminate public group, thus rendering the claim unsuitable as public interest litigation.
The court also held that the specific monetary compensation sought by SERAP should have been directed towards the actual victims of the attack rather than the general public.
The ruling was delivered by a three-member panel of the ECOWAS Court, which included Justice Ricardo Gonçalves as the presiding judge and Justice Sengu Koroma as a member of the panel.
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