The Economic Community of West African States Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Nigerian government to pay N30m as compensation for the killing of a 35-year-old man, Solomon Andy.
Andy was killed by a soldier attached to the Command Secondary
School, Kaduna, on June 9, 2017.
The deceased was shot while packing sand from a gutter on the fateful
Friday.
His killing was also confirmed by the then spokesperson for the 1
Division, Nigerian Army, Colonel Kingsley Umoh, who said the matter
was being investigated.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, Justice Keikura Bangura, who read the
ECOWAS Court’s judgement, upheld the arguments of Gloria Ballason,
counsel for the mother of the deceased, Helen Joshua.
The court declared the killing and confiscation of Andy’s corpse by the
Nigerian Army as unlawful, cruel and degrading.
The regional court also affirmed that the Federal Government failed to
uphold its obligations under Articles 1, 4, 5 and 12 of the African
Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, which mandated member states
to protect the sanctity and dignity of every life, and accordingly ordered
the Federal Government to pay N25m to Helen for the wrongful killing
of her son.
The court also ordered the government to pay N5m as cost of burial and
to immediately release the body of the deceased.
