State of Niger cases against UEMOA: The decision of the community court violates the principle of adversarial procedure (Minister)

Niamey, Nov 19 (ANP) – The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Keeper of the Seals, Mr. Alio Daouda hosted, this Sunday, November 19, 2023, a press briefing relating to the State of Niger affair and UEMOA.

Through this press briefing, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights wanted to explain to national and international opinion that the decision of the UEMOA Court of Justice violated the provisions of the Article 72 of the Treaty of the institution, the attributions, competences and powers of the judge hearing the summary proceedings.

It then sounds like an injunction given to Niger through the summary judge to comply with the dictates of its masters in making the decision.

Indeed, on August 28, 2023, the State of Niger and seven other entities which still believed in the integration advocated by the UEMOA in the interest of the populations of the space, seized the Court of Justice of the Union , two requests. These include a first request for the purposes of assessing the legality of the sanctions and the one having as its object, the suspension of execution of the sanctions taken by the Conference of Heads of State and Government of UEMOA in Abuja.

According to the Minister in charge of Justice, “on November 16, 2023, the President of the Court, ruling in the form of summary proceedings, declared himself competent to hear the request for suspension of execution and declared admissible the request introduced by the Niger State and 7 others; says there is no reason to order the suspension of execution of the sanctions pronounced by the conference of Heads of State and Government of the UEMOA during its extraordinary session held on July 30, 2023 in Abuja; reserved costs; and says that it will be referred to him if necessary.”

“With regard to Niger and the other plaintiffs, the decision was rendered even though they did not know until the hearing date on which the Court was to discharge its referral, and even more so, they were unable to become aware of it. observations of the defendant party to which they were entitled to respond if they considered it necessary,” added Minister Alio Daouda.

He also indicated “that in view of the above, the Community jurisdiction has directly violated one of the elementary principles common to all legal procedures, namely the principle of adversarial procedure”.

“In doing so, she has already announced the colors. Persisting in his contradictions, the summary judge states in his reasons that the sanctions were taken following a questioning of the constitutional order of a WAEMU member state leading to the reaction of the community institution even though the same judge recalled in one of these considerations that the decisions of the summary judge have an essentially provisional nature which cannot prejudice the merits and empty the case of its substance”, specified the Minister in charge of justice .

According to Minister Alio Daouda, “by invoking a challenge to the constitutional order in a WAEMU member state to justify the contested measures, he assessed their legality and by this means necessarily prejudged the merits; that in doing so, he has once again contradicted himself. If there is not a golden rule in matters of summary proceedings, the decisions rendered in this matter must not prejudice the merits.

“Basically, the judge’s contortions to arrive at a rejection decision betray a bringing to heel of an institution in which Nigeriens have until now believed,” he said.

For Minister Daouda, “this method of filibustering consisted of hiding from the Nigerian party, the plaintiff party, until the date of the deliberation and releasing as if by magic a decision on the eve of the departure of our team of lawyers to Abuja for pleading before the ECOWAS Court raises questions.”

Did the UEMOA Court want to use this method to undermine the morale of our councils? Or did it want to take the lead in directing the decisions of the ECOWAS Court in the direction of wishes of certain Heads of State in space obeying the agendas of foreign powers? He asked himself before emphasizing that “one thing is certain: this decision will not leave intact, in the eyes of Nigeriens and millions of UEMOA citizens, the credit of this community body. Niger, with its friendly countries, will provide itself with the means to advise in a timely manner regarding the decision to be taken, which decision is governed by busy processes,” he concluded.

ADA/AS/ANP 0100 November 2023