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The proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been fiercely criticized by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the group, who has characterized it as a direct assault on the Igbos of the South-East. Kanu argued that this ban went beyond a mere legal matter, describing it as an ethnic vendetta designed to marginalize the people of the region, exacerbating their long-standing grievances and sense of injustice.
At a world press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Alloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, raised concerns over what he described as a double standard in the Federal Government’s approach to ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Ejimakor pointed out that while IPOB had been banned, other groups such as the Arewa Youth Forum, Odua Peoples Congress, Niger Delta Avengers, and Miyetti Allah had not faced the same fate. He stated that this inconsistency was a glaring indication of discrimination against the Igbos, fostering an atmosphere of injustice and inequality.
He accused the Federal Government of basing its decision to proscribe IPOB on ethnic bias, specifically targeting the Igbo nation. According to him, the move was not rooted in legal or security concerns but rather in a deliberate attempt to discriminate against the Igbos, revealing a deep-seated prejudice within the government’s actions.
Through his legal representatives, Kanu argued that the Federal Government’s decision to proscribe IPOB and classify it as a terrorist group was part of a broader and questionable sequence of events.
He traced the origins of this action back to the notorious public declaration by South-East governors on September 17, 2017, which effectively labeled IPOB an unlawful organization, laying the groundwork for the federal government’s later move.
“Accordingly, on 20th September 2017, the government of Nigeria filed an ex parte application before a Federal High Court, seeking a formal judicial order to proscribe IPOB and declare it a terrorist group.
“The next day, September 21, 2027, late Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja made an ex parte order (without prior notice to IPOB or giving it an opportunity to make repre-sentations) declaring IPOB a terrorist organisation and further ordering its proscription.”
He added that the order was made under the colour of the provisions of Nigeria’s Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, as amended.
Read also: Anambra Govt To IPOB: Soludo Is Not Against Freeing Kanu
In taking the decision to proscribe IPOB and declare it a terrorist group, Ejimakor said, neither the South-East governors nor the Federal Government had recourse to Section 42 of the Nigerian Constitution which prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity and political opinion.
He said, by gazetting the ex parte terrorist and proscription order, millions of IPOB
members and their leader (Kanu) will be treated as terrorist and their properties (real or corporate) will become subject to interdiction and confiscation by the Nigerian state without opportunity of being heard.
While narrating Kanu’s ordeal in the hand of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, Ejimakor said the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the United Nations had, in a letter dated October 1, 2020 to the President of Nigeria, condemned the action of the Federal Government on the proscription of IPOB and said the action was motivated by ethnic bias and discrimination against the Igbo.
