Special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor, says the ruling of Enugu State High Court that IPOB is not a terrorist organization will vindicate thousands of lives and also liberate Nigerians from government excesses.
While speaking with journalists, Ejimakor said the judgement has shown that IPOB is not doing anything wrong.
“There many youths being persecuted on the ground of being members of IPOB. With this judgment, IPOB, founded for self-determination, is not doing anything wrong.
“Members are not committing any wrong, and therefore, you cannot grant arrest, detention and prosecution of any IPOB member, including Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on the basis of self-determination.
“The South East governors fired the first salvo in September 2017, followed by an executive decision by the federal government to proscribe IPOB, and then the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization.
“Such actions are prohibited expressly under Section 42 of the Nigerian Constitution. It is a fundamental right of every Nigerian not to be discriminated against in the exercise of government decisions, policies and actions.
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“Many Nigerians are not aware of it. We are vigilant to that. We noted that the action of South East governors was an executive action, which was followed three days later by the federal government raising a memo through the Attorney General of the Federation to the President, approving the proscription of IPOB and the declaration of the group as a terrorist organization.
“All of these combined constitute the executive actions and decisions which Section 2 of the constitution prohibits. It is a fundamental right, meaning you cannot violate it, and get away with it.
“Our case in chief is that there are other ethnic organizations across Nigeria that pursue one interest or the other. Nigerians know them. There is a proliferation of ethnic organizations, with some of them being evidently violent.
“The FG never took any step to proscribe anyone of them or declare any of them a terrorist group. It took this proactive step, supported by Southeast governors in targeting IPOB in particular.”
According to him, the legal team which he led took the matter to court to interrogate the actions of South East Governors is in line with the provisions of the constitution.
Recall that the Enugu High Court on Thursday asked the Federal Government and South-East Governors to pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The court also mandated the respondents to apologise to Kanu for the infringement of his fundamental rights.
