Contacts: Mutiu Ganiyu Cel: +234 803 402 3036; Tel: 234 1 260 0080
Tony Nwapa Cel: +234 805 798 1760; Tel: 234 9 413 3771

Nigerian Court Set to Rule on Challenge to Charles Taylor's Asylum

Nigeria's Federal High Court will on Tuesday, 13 September 2005, announce a ruling in a petition by two Nigerian businessmen amputated by Charles Taylor-backed militias in Sierra Leone in 1999 challenging President Olusegun Obasanjo's decision to grant asylum to fugitive former Liberian President, Mr. Charles Taylor.

In their petition initiated on 13 May 2004, the two businessmen, David Anyaele and Emmanuel Egbuna, claim that President Obasanjo's decision to grant asylum to Mr. Taylor was contrary to the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951and the African Union's Refugee Convention of 1969 and unlawfully usurped the powers of Nigeria's National Refugee Commission and violated. They also claim that as a person already indicted for war crimes by an international tribunal, Mr. Taylor is excluded from asylum. The Defendants in the petition include Mr. Charles Taylor and President Obasanjo.

Nigeria's Federal government argues that the two businessmen do not have the capacity to sue Mr. Charles Taylor in Nigeria. The Court will decide tomorrow whether to uphold or reject the government's objection.

Trial Judge, Steve Jonah Adah, will deliver the ruling.

Counsel to the businessmen are Tunde Fagbohunlu & Mutiu Ganiyu of of the law offices of Aluko & Oyebode.

With permission of the trial judge, Amnesty International, Open Society Justice Initiative, and the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission are participating in the case as friends of the Court (amici curiae).

Nigeria's government has made clear that it will not countenance any challenge to its policy on Charles Taylor. Its security services recently initiated persecution of campaigners against Mr. Taylor's asylum. It arrested and detained printers for the campaign and declared leading members of the campaign, including staff of the Open Society Justice Initiative in Nigeria wanted.

ENDS

For background information on the case and on David Anyaele & Emmanuel Egbuna, visit:

http://www.justiceinitiative.org/activities/ij/taylor [2]

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/anyaele1 [3]