ECOWAS court dismisses SERAP’s N50m compensation suit for Abuja-Kaduna train attack victims

The ECOWAS court of justice has dismissed a suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) seeking N50 million compensation from the federal government for each victim of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack. 

In March 2022, gunmen attacked an Abuja-bound Kaduna train with over 970 passengers onboard.

Many passengers were killed, several persons injured, while 61 were abducted during the attack.

All the abducted passengers were released at various intervals, with the latest batch freed after seven months.

Following the attack, SERAP filed a suit before the ECOWAS court against the federal government on behalf of some of the victims.

However, in the ruling on Thursday, the court held that SERAP’s claims were inadmissible because they failed to meet the “victim status” requirement essential for litigation under Article 10(d) of the same protocol.

Dupe Atoki, who delivered the judgement, described the case as “unsuitable as a public interest litigation” because 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, in accordance with Article 9(4) of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol,” the court ruled.

“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 added that the reliefs sought by the claimants, including specific monetary compensation, should have been directed at the identifiable victims of the attack, rather than the public at large.

In April, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) announced the arrest of Ibrahim Abdullahi, the suspected mastermind of the fatal train attack.