benefits of Article 78 of the Staff Rules and Regulations and sought several reliefs therefrom. The Respondent in their argument maintained that the President had absolute powers of dismissal on grounds of misconduct and gross insubordination. The Court notes the words and phrases of the Applicant which the Respondent submitted as abusive language such as: “manipulation,” “it is annoying to hear this, “it is disappointing and time wasting” etc. were in the ordinary sense of the words and phrases and the ordinary meaning attach to them not abusive to justify the reprisal that follows. Having due regard of Article 11 of the of the Staff Rules and Regulations (EBID) which requires that a staff member be heard without the fear of reprisals and given the ordinary meaning of the words and phrases submitted as abusive, the Court deems the act of termination on said grounds to be excessive and tantamount to the act of reprisal in itself. Further, that the Respondent failed to allow the Applicant to defend himself even after dismissal to which he had a right pursuant to the Staff Rules and Regulations. The general objective of the ECOWAS Community is that staff members of ECOWAS should be able to work in an environment devoid unfairness by affording them the right to due process. The Respondent’s failure to hear the Applicant’s appeal depicts a unilateral exercise of discretionary powers by the Bank without recourse to the laid down procedure which was arbitrary and not in the best interest of the institution in particular and the ECOWAS Community in general and the Court so holds. • Non-compliance with the rules in the recruitment process The Applicant’s claim is that the Respondent failed to comply with the provisions of its Staff Rules and Regulations in the recruitment exercise 23 | P a g e