The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has awarded N21 million in damages against the Republic of Ghana in favour of a Ghanaian-born woman whose passport was revoked after she married a Nigerian.
The court ruled that the country’s actions violated her fundamental rights to nationality and freedom of movement.
The judgment was delivered in the case of Mary Omerere v. Republic of Ghana (Suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/25/25), an application filed before the regional court in May 2025.
The court held that Ghana’s administrative actions unlawfully deprived Mary Omerere of her nationality rights, rendered her effectively stateless, and prevented her from entering her country of birth.
Samuel Ihensekhien, lead counsel to the applicant, who represented Omerere alongside S. M. Oyeghe and Mike Ezeobi under the auspices of the League of Public Interest Lawyers, briefed journalists after the judgment, describing the decision as a landmark victory for human rights and the protection of citizenship across West Africa.
According to the legal team, Omerere, a Ghanaian citizen by birth, married Henry Obukohwo Omorere, a Nigerian, under Nigerian law and subsequently adopted her husband’s surname.
Her legal troubles began when she applied to renew her Ghanaian international passport through the Ghana High Commission in Lagos and related authorities.
Rather than processing the renewal, Ghanaian officials allegedly delayed the application before informing her that her passport had been revoked.
The lawyers said officials questioned her birth records and reportedly advised her to obtain a Nigerian passport instead, despite her insistence that she remained a Ghanaian citizen by birth.
They argued that the decision effectively stripped her of her nationality through administrative action without due process.
Omerere said she was unable to travel to Ghana, including missing her grandmother’s funeral, while also facing uncertainty over her immigration status in the United Kingdom because she no longer possessed valid Ghanaian travel documents.
Her counsel further told the court that repeated attempts to engage Ghanaian authorities, including proposals for DNA verification and other administrative processes, yielded no response.
In her suit, Omerere alleged violations of her right to nationality, protection against arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and her right to freedom of movement under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Ghanaian Constitution, and other international human rights instruments.
She sought declarations affirming her Ghanaian citizenship, an order directing Ghana to issue her a new passport, findings that her fundamental rights had been violated, and substantial damages.
In its judgment, the ECOWAS Court found that Ghana breached Omerere’s right to freedom of movement by preventing her from leaving and returning to her country, contrary to Article 12(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 21(2) of Ghana’s Constitution.
The court also ruled that Ghana violated her right to nationality by arbitrarily depriving her of her citizenship status through administrative measures.
Significantly, the regional court held that African citizens cannot be arbitrarily expelled or denied entry into their own countries except in accordance with the law and through lawful judicial processes.
The court restrained Ghana from taking actions that violate internationally recognised rights to nationality and freedom of movement and directed the country to communicate, within six months, its decision regarding the issuance of Omerere’s passport and her nationality status.
As part of the judgment, the court awarded N21 million in damages, reported as the equivalent of approximately 15,000 US dollars, against the Republic of Ghana.
It also ordered that litigation costs, to be assessed by the court’s registry, be paid by the Ghanaian government.
Lawyers for the applicant described the ruling as a significant precedent for the protection of citizenship rights across the Economic Community of West African States.
