8. ANALYSIS BY THE COURT : The crux of this case is that the Applicant who was sentenced to death for the offence of murder in accordance with the laws of the Defendant and who appealed up to the highest Court in Nigeria unsuccessfully against the sentence of death imposed on her, and who has been awaiting execution of the sentence for some years now, brought this Application before this Court, seeking a declaration against the Defendant for violation of her right to life and for cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The Defendant did not file any defence to the action but have raised a preliminary objection; even without the preliminary objection which in most parts relies heavily on the provisions of the decisions of its Court, this matter can be determined, without considering the merits of the objection as in most parts, it raises substantive issues that can only be determined on the merits. Accordingly, it is our considered view that the mandate of this Court is to determine interlia cases of violation of human rights occurring in territory of a Member State of ECOWAS and not to interprete its National laws. The laws that bind the Court in exercising its function in the ECOWAS Treaty, the Protocols and Supplementary Protocols relating to the Court and other Institutions of the Community, 11