A Ghanaian woman married to a Nigerian has won a major legal victory after the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ordered the Government of Ghana to pay her ₦21 million in damages for denying her passport renewal and preventing her from returning to her country.
In a judgment delivered on June 23, 2026, in the case of Mary Omerere v. Republic of Ghana (Suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/25/25), the court held that Ghanaian authorities violated Mary Omerere’s fundamental rights, including her right to freedom of movement and nationality.
Omerere, born Mary Efai Osei Ayree in Ashaiman, Ghana, on January 1, 1989, is a Ghanaian citizen by birth. She was issued a birth certificate and a Ghanaian passport in 2018.
After marrying Nigerian citizen, Henry Obukohwo Omorere, in November 2018, she relocated to the United Kingdom, where she later applied to renew her Ghanaian passport through the Ghana High Commission.
Court documents revealed that after submitting her renewal application in August 2023, she faced prolonged delays. During an interview at the Ghana High Commission in the U.K. in August 2024, she was informed that the authenticity of her birth certificate was being questioned.
According to court records, a High Commission official advised her to travel to Nigeria to obtain an original birth certificate or swear to an affidavit of birth there. The instruction was reportedly written on an unsigned piece of paper by an official who declined to identify herself.
Her lawyers described the directive as unlawful and reckless, arguing that it would require their client to obtain documents from a country with which she had no ancestral connection.
Omerere rejected the instruction, insisting she was a Ghanaian citizen by birth.
The passport dispute later had serious consequences. When her grandmother became ill in 2024, Omerere sought permission to travel to Ghana but was reportedly told that she would neither be allowed entry into the country nor have her passport renewed.
Her grandmother died in June 2024, leaving Omerere unable to attend the funeral or pay her final respects.
She also told the court that the refusal to renew her passport left her effectively stateless and jeopardised her immigration status in the United Kingdom, where she was residing on a visa due to expire in 2025.
Represented by lawyers Emeka Ezeobi and Samuel Ihensekhien, Omerere argued that Ghana violated provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Constitution of Ghana, both of which guarantee freedom of movement and the right of citizens to enter and leave their country.
In its ruling, the ECOWAS Court agreed, finding that Ghana unlawfully interfered with her nationality rights and arbitrarily denied her the protections attached to her citizenship.
The court held that Ghana breached her right to leave and return to her country and ordered the government to communicate its decision on her passport and citizenship documentation status within six months.
In addition to the ₦21 million compensation award, Ghana was directed to pay litigation costs to be assessed by the ECOWAS Court Registry.
Reacting to the judgment, Samuel Ihensekhien of the League of Public Interest Lawyers described the ruling as a major affirmation of citizenship rights and freedom of movement across the ECOWAS region.
Legal observers have also hailed the decision as a significant precedent against the arbitrary denial of nationality and travel documents to citizens within West Africa.
