The legal team representing Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has maintained that designating the group as a terrorist organization was an attempt to legitimize the marginalization of the Igbo people through judicial means.
The legal team questioned why the court and the Nigerian government failed to declare groups like Miyetti Allah and Fulani herders as terrorist organisations “in spite of their murderous dispositions.”
The legal team, led by lead counsel Aloy Ejimakor, Jude Ugwuanyi, and Nnaemeka Ejiofor, made this statement while addressing a world press conference yesterday in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Ugwuanyi said: “Igbos have, on several occasions, alleged that the Igbo ethnic nationalities are discriminated against and marginalised by the Federal Government of Nigeria, and evidence of such marginalisation knows no bounds; it is a form of discrimination.
“IPOB is an acronym for the Indigenous People of Biafra and stands for the people of the South Eastern part of Nigeria. The primary focus of IPOB is self-determination, founded on the established marginalisation of Ndi-Igbo.
“There are several such ethnic agitations for self-determination and the like. Among them are: the Arewa Youth Forum (mainly of Hausa/Fulani ethnic stock), Odua Peoples Congress (mainly of Yoruba ethnic stock), Miyetti Allah (mainly of Hausa/Fulani ethnic stock), The Niger Delta Avengers (mainly of Ijaw ethnic stock), and Fulani Herdsmen (mainly of Fulani ethnic stock), internationally declared to be the 4th deadliest terrorist organisation in the world.
“Nigeria has not declared any of these ethnic groups as a terrorist organisation in spite of their murderous dispositions. But Justice Kafarati, the then Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, in conjunction with the Federal Government of Nigeria, was quick to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation and proscribe the association, for nothing other than that they are from the South Eastern part of Nigeria. So, is any person of Biafra extraction now a terrorist?”
In 2017, the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, had outlawed IPOB.
In an ex parte motion filed by former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, Justice Kafarati declared the activities of IPOB as illegal.
The late judge also held that IPOB posed a threat to Nigeria’s unity.
However, IPOB’s lawyers challenged the proscription order.
IPOB had urged the Appeal Court to nullify the ruling of the late Kafarati.
