The lawsuit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) seeking N50 million in compensation for each victim of the March 2022 Abuja-Kaduna train attack has been dismissed by the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
According to them, SERAP’s claims did not satisfy the “victim status” threshold required for litigation under Article 10(d) of the ECOWAS protocol; the court declared them inadmissible on Thursday.
Backstory
A train carrying over 970 passengers was ambushed by gunmen in March 2022, resulting in numerous fatalities, injuries, and the kidnapping of 61 passengers.
Eventually, the captives were freed at various times; the final group was freed seven months later.
The Nigeria Police Force declared in April that Ibrahim Abdullahi, the alleged attack mastermind, had been taken into custody.
After the event, SERAP submitted a suit against the federal government, demanding compensation on behalf of the victims.
However, in her judgement, Justice Dupe Atoki stated that the case did not qualify as public interest litigation, as the victims were “identifiable individuals rather than an indeterminate public group.”
“The court recognises its jurisdiction to hear the case, as it involved potential human rights violations within a member state.”
“However, 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.” Atoki noted, citing Article 9(4) of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol.
The court further clarified that the reliefs sought, including specific monetary compensation, should have been directed toward the identifiable victims of the attack rather than the public at large.
