Senegalese President Diomaye Faye, current chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, has urged the new Judges of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice to be guided by their oath of office.
“The reputation of the Court depends on the quality of its decisions and the trust it inspires,” he said, during the swearing-in of five new Judges at the Court’s Abuja, Nigeria headquarters on 6 October 2026.
The ECOWAS Commission President, (rtd) Gen. Birame Diop, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Mémounatou Ibrahima, Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Cheikh Niang, and Nigeria’s Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, were among the dignitaries who witnessed the inauguration ceremony.
Other dignitaries included Justice Mouhamadou Mansour Mbaye, Chairman of the ECOWAS Judicial Council, outgoing President and Judges of the Community Court, other members of the Judicial Council, and representatives of Member States.
The new Judges, who are to serve for four years, are Justice Désiré Henri Aihou of Benin, Justice Awa Bah of The Gambia, Justice Charlyne Brumskine of Liberia, Justice Henrietta Didigu of Nigeria, and Justice Yaouza Ouro-Sama of Togo.
They pledged to discharge their “responsibilities with independence, impartiality and integrity.”
The Protocol that created the ECOWAS Court of Justice was adopted in 1991, while the court was established under the 1993 ECOWAS Revised Treaty. The 2005 Supplementary Protocol expanded the Court’s jurisdiction to include human rights claims against member States by individuals.
Through the establishment of the Court, ECOWAS “demonstrates its commitment to strengthening Community justice, upholding the rule of law and protecting fundamental rights.”
The Court plays a “central role in consolidating the Community legal order, strengthening public confidence in regional justice and advancing more effective, accessible and people-centred justice in support of peace, stability and regional integration.”##
