By Chukwunazaoku Chukwuma and Mercy Olaoluwa Olutayo*
A Commissioner at the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has dragged the President of the Commission to the ECOWAS Court of Justice (CCJ), seeking the nullification of the President’s decision to “revoke the (Commissioner’s) delegated authority… (and) oversight over the directorates under the Department of Internal Services.”
In suit ECW/CCJ/APP/54/25 of 3rd November 2025, the Applicant, Prof Nazifi Abdullahi Darma, the Commissioner of Internal Affairs, is, through his lawyers, Prof Amos Enabulele Esq. and Michael Agbo Esq., praying the court to determine the “legality” of the decision conveyed in ECW/Memo/30-10-2025/ak issued by the Respondent, the President of the Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, on 30th October 2025.
In the accompanying affidavit and exhibits, the Applicant cited his own memo ECW/CIS/11/01/Nov.25/ab of 3rd November stating that “the disciplinary jurisdiction for Commissioners rests with the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, the appointing authority.”
He said “the unilateral revocation of powers and request for replacement (of the Commissioner), without recourse to the Council, or a disciplinary process established by the Council or the Authority of (ECOWAS) Heads of State violates the provisions of Article 18(3) (b)-(d) and Article 19(4) of the ECOWAS 2006 Supplementary Protocol (A/SP.1/06/06)…”
According to the Applicant, the ECOWAS Commission “is designed to function as a college of Commissioners,” under the “principles of collegiality and limits of presidential authority.”
He also cited Memo ECW/Memo/15.09.25/ak of 15th September on the “President of the Commission’s unilateral allocation of the functions reserved for Commissioners to his personal appointee from the same Member State as him,” in “violation of all relevant ECOWAS laws, including the Revised Treaty 1993, the Supplementary Protocol 2006 (and) Supplementary Act 2020.”
The Applicant said that following the departure of a Commissioner from one of the AES, Alliance of Sahel States, the ECOWAS Council of Ministers at a meeting in Accra, Ghana on 22-23 April 2025, directed that the “portfolio of the Commissioner be distributed among existing Commissioners after “discussion of the modalities by the President of the Commission and (other) Commissioners.”
“The President neither called a meeting to discuss the matter nor consulted on it before he suddenly and unilaterally sought to impose his Cabinet Minister as a replacement” for the departed Minister…,” the Applicant said. “This effectively gave The Gambia two Commissionership slots viz, the President of the Commission and his appointee from The Gambia.”
The Applicant said, “I decided to uphold my oath of office and refused to recognize the illegality,” and reported the President’s decision to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers “vide a Memo ECW/CIS/10/12/03T25/ab of 15th October 2025.”
In response, the Applicant said the President of the Commission served him ECW/Memo/30.10.25/ak “headed, Revocation of all Delegated Authority…”
He said the President in his memo made “various unfounded allegations,” including the “…(Applicant’s) persistent insubordination, uncooperative attitude and total failure to deliver in areas assigned to you,” and also, directed “…to put a stop to your hostility and abuse towards staff under you as well as statutory officials, such as the Auditor General of ECOWAS Institutions, the Vice President of the Commission and myself.”
The Applicant said the President “has no authority whatsoever to exercise disciplinary powers over a Commissioner…” adding that such powers rested with the Council of Ministers and, “To date, I have not been formally referred to the Council, nor invited to respond to, or defend myself against any of the allegations mentioned in (the Defendant’s) memorandum.”
The suit said the Applicant’s “hard-earned reputation was injured and irreparably shredded by the unsubstantiated allegations,” while the “tenor and widespread distribution of the (Respondent’s) memo have caused the Applicant and his family substantial distress since the 30th day of October 2025.”
Citing various instruments, including the Revised ECOWAS Treaty of 1993, the Staff Regulations revised in 2021, Personal Data Protection, the Rules of Procedure and decided cases, the Applicant is seeking several Declarations and Orders by the Court, including: that the “document ECW/Memo/30.10.25/ak is unlawful, illegal and therefore, null and void and of no effect whatsoever, for violating the Applicant’s right to a fair hearing.
The suit is also seeking an Order by the court “directing the Respondent to pay the sum of twenty million U.S. dollars (US$20 million) as special and general damages for the pain and suffering the Applicant has endured from the denigration of his person, violation of his right to a fair hearing, and his confidentiality and privacy.”
Furthermore, the suit is praying the Court for “An Order directing the Respondent to pay the Applicant all his emoluments, allowances or any other financial loss that is consequential upon the Memo of 30th October 2025,” and “such further orders that the Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of the suit.”
The Applicant seeks an expeditious hearing of the suit.
He is also paying the Court to issue an Interim Order “restraining the Respondent and all his agents from unlawfully removing, sacking or delegating the core (or any other) responsibilities of the Applicant as ECOWAS Commissioner of Internal Services, to unauthorized persons without observing due process as established under the Revised ECOWAS Treaty 1993 (as amended), the Rules of Procedure of the Commission and in gross violation of the enshrined Treaties and the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, pending the hearing and determination of this suit.”
The Court has not fixed a date to hear the suit, but has given the Respondent 15 days from the 3rd of November to enter a defence.
The Touray-led ECOWAS Commission has a few months left in its four-year mandate.
In September, a Nigerian citizen and the Centre for Community Law, an NGO, sued the President of the Commission and the Council of Ministers at the CCJ, challenging ECOWAS’ decision to retain in its employment some staff members from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, AES countries, which have withdrawn their ECOWAS membership.
Following the suit ECW/CCJ/APP/47/25 dated 22nd September 2025, the Commission has reportedly given all AES citizens employed by ECOWAS until April 2026 to disengage.
It is under the Commission’s management that three AES States withdrew their membership of ECOWAS in January 2023, while the junta in a fourth military-ruled member, Guinea, plans political transition elections in December. Also, recent interviews conducted or scheduled to fill some key vacant positions at the Commission or Community Institutions have run into hitches, amid staff petitions in a few cases, and what inside sources called unnecessary disagreements among some statutory officia