8.1.3.1. In the case, Suit No.ECW/CCJ/APP/01/09 AMOUZOU Henri & 5 o thers vs . Co te d’Ivo i re, Ruling No. ECW/CCJ/JUD/04/09, this Court allowed the withdrawal of three of the Plaintiffs, and ruled as follows: “The Court accedes to the first request, since the Applicants are at liberty to withdraw from the case at any stage of the procedure.” See page 15 of the Judgment delivered 17 December 2009. 8.1.3.2. Further, in the case, Suit no. ECW/CCJ/APP/13/08 El-hadji Tidjani Aboubacar vs. Etat du Niger & BCEAO, Ruling no. ECW/CCJ/JUD/01/11, this Court allowed the Applicant, Mr. Tidjani Aboubacar to discontinue his suit against the 1st Defendant Bank BCEAO without the approval or intervention of the 2nd Defendant, Republic of Niger. See pages 6-7 of the Judgment delivered 08 February 2011. - 29 8.1.4. The Defendants have argued that once issues have been joined, the Plaintiffs are not allowed to withdraw their case against the Defendants; whereas, the Plaintiffs have countered that they can withdraw or discontinue their suit either as of right or by special permission or leave of the Court. 8.1.5. We resolve this dispute by referring to our Rules, and as we have seen above, a Plaintiff is allowed to discontinue his case either (a.) by consensus or agreement of the parties in which case, they will jointly inform the court of their decision to abandon their claims and their determination as to costs, or, (b.) by the Plaintiff informing the court in writing of his desire to do so, and the President in both instances, shall give an order to have the case removed from the register. 8.1.6. Based on the above, we resolve this issue by conceding to the position of the Plaintiffs in this case to the effect that they have the right to withdraw or discontinue their case against all the Defendants. Accordingly, the application of the Plaintiffs is hereby granted and the case against all the Defendants is hereby discontinued. 8.1.7. In opposing the withdrawal or discontinuance of the suit by the Plaintiffs, the Defendants argued that if it is allowed, the Plaintiffs will come back in a new suit on the same subject matter and in that case, it would amount to abuse of court process. To this, we say that in the event the Plaintiffs elect to come back with a new suit on this same subject, the Court will, at that point, decide whether on the basis of what is (re)filed, there is an abuse of process and thus take the appropriate action under the circumstances; we should not pre-empt the Plaintiffs. Thus, for the sake of clarity, we grant the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Discontinuance/Withdrawal of