The wife of a staff member of ECOWAS, Mrs. Sarah Kingsley Odoro, has accused her husband of assault over childlessness.
Sarah filed a suit at the ECOWAS Court alleging the violation of her fundamental human rights by the husband.
The suit no ECW/CCJ/APP/33/18, filed on August 8, 2018, was heard today February 11, 2021.
The woman said Kingsley Odoro, a staff of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, became hostile after securing employment with EBID despite her financial contributions to the family during their 23 years of marriage.
Sarah added that she informed him of her son from a previous relationship whom he promised to adopt.
The Nigerian, through her counsel Marcellinus Marshall, alleged the violation of her rights to life, freedom of movement, property, dignity of the human person and right to freedom from torture and inhuman treatment by Odoro.
The applicant is seeking declaration that Kingsley breached her fundamental rights as enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.
She wants a declaration that her ejection from their home and other properties without providing her basic needs and the needs of her son is unlawful and illegal.
Sarah is also seeking orders of the Court mandating the ECOWAS Commission and EBID to prevail on her husband to desist from further violations and threats to her and her son’s lives.
She wants an order entitling her to some of their properties and the welfare of her son, and an order compelling Kingsley to pay N120 million compensation.
Eve Fantah Elam, counsel to the ECOWAS Commission and EBID raised a preliminary objection.
She argued that the ECOWAS Commission and EBID were wrongly joined in the suit; that the Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain marital affairs and should dismiss the suit.
The Court noted the absence of Kingsley Odoro.
The matter is being adjudicated by a panel of three judges comprising Honourable Justices Gberi-Be Ouattara, Dupe Atoki and Januaria Moreira Costa.
