Polls: Group to withdraw suit against FG, two others

The Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights says it is considering withdrawing a suit it filed against Federal Government and two others at the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
The Executive Director of CASER, Frank Tietie, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja.
Tietie said the suit, numbered ECW/CCJ/APP/03/15, was filed on January 11, seeking to postpone or suspend the general elections on the grounds of general insecurity and possible post-election violence.
According to him, CASER has instituted the action out of “palpable fear that the Boko Haram insurgents may cause a lot more harm in the build up to the general elections”.
He named the Authority of Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS and the President of the ECOWAS Commission as the other two respondents in the case billed for hearing on March 10.
He said: “But following the postponement of the February 14 elections, the Nigerian Armed Forces have recorded astounding success against the insurgents.
“This has rekindled great hopes, that the Armed Forces being less burdened and possessing requisite military sophistication may now be able to provide security for the general elections.
“Therefore, it has become necessary for CASER to strongly consider withdrawing the suit.
“CASER shall consequently rely on the decision of its Advisory Board on whether or not to withdraw the suit when it comes up for hearing on the March 10.”
Tietie explained that the group had filed the suit pursuant to its mission of preserving the human, social and economic rights of the citizens of Nigeria.
According to him, the thrust of all public interest cases initiated by CASER “is the concept of Human Rights for the promotion of better standards of living for the citizens of Nigeria.
“We filed the suit at a time when the multinational joint forces were fleeing from the ravaging insurgent attacks.
“CASER did not mind the unpopularity of its quest to postpone or suspend the elections until human security was guaranteed.
“This is because CASER considered the general elections as secondary to human security.
“We were of the view that all the political stakeholders in the Nigerian polity cared overly much more about the elections than the security of human life in Nigeria.”
Tietie said that the group was “deeply saddened” that politicians chose to play politics with the Boko Haram insurgency in an attempt to legitimise their claim to power through the general elections.
He said that in filing the suit, CASER was convinced that it could stop the general elections by urging the court to invoke all the provisions of applicable ECOWAS protocols.
He said that the protocols were those relating to the mechanism for conflict prevention, management, resolution, peace keeping and security.
Tietie said that Nigeria and the Authority of Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS were bound by those provisions to consider a report of the President of the ECOWAS Commission.
He added that the report was on the early warning and security threat in the build up to the elections which represented a potential threat to the peace and stability of the entire ECOWAS region.