the Court, is not obliged to exhaust local remedies before accessing the Court.
(See also Musa Saidy Khan Vs The Republic of Gambia (2010) CCJ ELRP).
In Kadijaton Mani Karaou Vs Republic of Niger, The Defendant (The
Republic of Niger) raised a preliminary objection challenging the admissibility
of the Plaintiffs’ application on the ground that non –exhaustion of local
remedies on the one hand and that the case brought before the Court was
pending before the National Courts of Niger, the Court held that there are no
grounds for considering the non-exhaustion of local remedies as a lacuna
which must be filled within the practice of the Court, for the Court cannot
impose on individuals more onerous conditions and formalities than those
expressly provided for by Community texts.
To hold otherwise will tantamount to additional violation of the rights of
such individuals. In dismissing the preliminary objection raised by the
defendant (and rightly so in our considered view), the Court held that by the
provision of this Article 10(d) (11) of the Supplementary Protocol of 2005, the
Community lawmakers of Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) intended to remain within the strict confines of what international
practice has declared appropriate to abide by. That it is not the duty of this
Court to add to the Supplementary Protocol condition(s) which are not provided
for by the texts.
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