The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja has awarded N30 million to Glory Okolie, a woman who was unlawfully detained and enslaved by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force in 2021. Okolie, who was 21 years old at the time,
Samuel Ihensekhien, a human rights lawyer based in Abuja, represented Glory Okolie in her case against the Nigerian government at the ECOWAS Court. He stated that throughout the proceedings, the government failed to provide a valid legal defense for Okolie’s detention, which lasted over 90 days and violated various laws, treaties, and constitutional provisions.
Ihensekhien emphasized that the Nigerian government’s inability to justify Okolie’s unlawful detention further underscores the grave human rights abuses committed in this case.
In the court proceedings, the Nigerian government had delayed proceedings and hearing of the case because they refused to file any court process.
However information about the case at ECOWAS court chronicled how the officers of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) allegedly arrested the said Glory on June 17, 2021, and held her as a maid for several weeks.
She was later released on March 23, 2022, after spending alarming 248 days in detention.
Following her release, human rights lawyer, Samuel Ihensekhien and One Love Foundation, a non-governmental organisation formed for the promotion of good governance and justice, had headed to ECOWAS Court seeking N100 billion from the federal government as “general and punitive” damages for infringing on Okolie’s fundamental human rights.
The ECOWAS court at its first sitting actually awarded N1million against the Nigerian government for delaying the proceedings.
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