African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which are recognised
by the Community and to which the Member States are signatory, in
line with the laws, practices and national policies of the Member States.
Consequently, even if formally, the source of the human rights cases triable
before the Community Court is the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights and the international instruments, such human rights may
substantially be considered as analogous to the fundamental human rights
recognised and guaranteed by the Constitution of each Member State and
vice-versa.
17. In this light, the Court notes that Articles 34, 35, 36, 41 and 42 of the
Constitution of Nigeria sanctions respectively: (1) the right to human dignity
(2) the right to personal liberty (3) the right to fair trial (4) the right to free
movement (5) the right to non-discrimination. The Court equally notes that
Articles 4, 5, 6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
sanctions respectively : (i) the inviolability of human beings and the
prohibition to deprive same arbitrarily (ii) the right to respect for human
dignity inherent in human beings and the recognition of legal status (iii) the
right to liberty and security of person and the circumstances within which
those rights may be curtailed, and finally (iv) the right to freedom of
movement and choice of residence.
18. The Court notes finally that the Applicant essentially alleges violation of
his right to liberty and freedom of movement contained mutatis mutandi in
Articles 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, and that he also
alleges violation of his right to life and human dignity, sanctioned mutatis
mutandi by Article 34 of the said Constitution. Thus, the human rights
violations alleged before the Nigerian judge are essentially the same as the
human rights allegations brought before the Honorable Court. Besides, the
Applicant pleads before the Honorable Court, his release and the payment of
Ten Million Naira as damages, requests which have equally been granted by
the Nigerian judge.
19. The Court therefore deduces from the foregoing, that the Application
brought by Mr. Aliyu Tasheku is essentially the same as the one filed
before the Nigerian judge, which subject-matter has already been dealt with
and which outcome the Applicant neither contested nor considered to be
dissatisfactory since he did not appeal the judgment before any Nigerian
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