ECOWAS court awards Nigerian ex-commissioner $50,000 over unlawful removal

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has awarded $50,000 in general damages to Prof. Nazifi Abdullahi Darma, a former Commissioner for Internal Services at the ECOWAS Commission, after ruling that his removal and replacement before his tenure ended were unlawful.

Darma, who was nominated by Nigeria, told journalists on Friday that the judgment was delivered on 7 October 2026 in his suit against the President of the ECOWAS Commission and the Council of Ministers.

The court also ordered that he be paid all outstanding salaries, allowances and other accrued entitlements from the date his tenure was unlawfully cut short until it expired, minus any sums he had already received. The ECOWAS Commission was ordered to pay the costs of the case.

The court did not order his reinstatement. Darma's four-year tenure began on 16 July 2022 and ended on 31 August 2026, so there was no post left to return to.

What the court found

According to Darma, the dispute began after he raised concerns about how the commission was run. He said he questioned the presence of non-management staff at management meetings, the lack of clear and consistent scoring for recruiting senior officials, and the handing of the Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation department's duties to a non-statutory official after the commissioner from Niger left.

He said he wrote to the then President of the Commission, and in some cases the Chair of the Council of Ministers, but the issues were not resolved.

Matters came to a head on 30 October 2025, when the then commission president issued a memorandum withdrawing his delegated authority, making allegations about his conduct and performance, and starting a process to replace him. Darma filed his case at the ECOWAS Court on 3 November 2025. While it was pending, Nigeria recalled him on 12 December 2025 and named a successor, and the Council of Ministers formalised the replacement.

Darma said the court rejected the argument that the memorandum was a routine administrative step. It held that the memo carried adverse allegations that affected his duties and formed part of a move to replace him without prior notice or a real chance to respond.

The court also held that the President of the Commission could not use managerial powers to move or wipe out responsibilities that Community law assigns to another statutory office.

On Nigeria's recall, the court drew a line between nomination and appointment. It ruled that a commissioner, once appointed, gets his mandate from ECOWAS law and not from the member state that nominated him, so Nigeria's recall alone did not end his appointment or create a vacancy.

Darma said the ruling affirms that statutory appointees can only be removed through lawful procedures and on legally recognised grounds.

This judgment is not a personal victory. It is a victory for the rule of law, institutional integrity, accountability, and due process within ECOWAS.

He called on ECOWAS institutions to comply fully with the judgment and to review their protocols where wording is unclear, so similar disputes do not arise again.

What happens next

The court ordered the ECOWAS Commission to pay the outstanding entitlements, the $50,000 damages and the assessed costs of the case. Darma has asked ECOWAS institutions to comply fully with the judgment and to review relevant protocols and regulations where necessary to remove ambiguities and prevent similar disputes.