Similarly in El Hadji Aboubacar Vs. BCEAO & Rep. of Niger (2011) CCJELR
(unreported) pg. 8, Para 25, the Court found that for an application to be admissible
in matters of human rights, the mere citing of the facts connected with such
description suffices to confer competence on it.
The Court therefore looks to find out whether the human right violations as observed,
constitute the main subject matter of the application and whether the pleas in law
and evidence adduced if proven will establish such violations. The invocation of
facts which fall in line with the subject matter is sufficient on its own to establish its
competence on human right matters.
Applying the above authorities in relation to the facts of this case, and in the absence
of anything to the contrary, this matter falls within the ambit of the Court’s
jurisdiction and the Plaintiffs who allege violation of their rights have the right to
bring same for adjudication. The Defendant’s objection in this regard is therefore
not tenable.
The second arm of Plaintiffs allegation is on the alleged infringement of the rights
of the peoples of Niger Delta. Human rights are human centered and the
admissibility of an application is linked among other criteria to the status of the
victim. This condition necessarily entails the Applicant, acting on personal grounds
as a result of a legally protected injured interest, or in a representative capacity,
having the mandate to act on behalf of an identifiable group whose legally protected
interest have been harmed.
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