By Seun Opejobi The lead counsel of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor, on Friday charged ...
By Seun Opejobi
The lead counsel of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor, on Friday charged the Presidency,
Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, and Nigerians to desist from referring to the
group as a terrorist organization.
Ejimakor warned that such a defamatory and prejudicial label
attached to IPOB would be “met and countervailed with muscular litigation and
other lawful measures.”
He based this warning on a subsisting judgment of a High
Court in Nigeria, which ruled that the proscription/declaration of IPOB as a
terrorist group by the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari
is illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional.
In a statement he signed, Ejimakor said: “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s
Legal Team is under firm instructions from our client to issue this final
warning to all persons and institutions still referring to IPOB as a terrorist
organization.
“Henceforth, any further reference to IPOB as a terrorist
organization will be met and countervailed with muscular litigation and other
lawful measures, regardless of the entity involved. This is because there is a
subsisting judgment of a competent High Court in Nigeria (attached herewith)
which ruled that IPOB’s proscription/declaration as a terrorist group by Buhari
is illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional. Compliance with this judgment
strictly demands that IPOB should no longer be referred to as a terrorist
organization.
“Additionally, those labeling IPOB as a terrorist
organization have not provided any evidence that IPOB has engaged in any
terrorist activity. This is underscored by the fact that since the so-called
proscription of IPOB in 2017, no single alleged IPOB member has been convicted
of any terrorist act, despite thousands of arrests, abductions, torture, false
flags, and extrajudicial killings levied against its alleged members.
“Accordingly, we hereby demand that the general public, the
Presidency, the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, and any erring media houses
should forthwith cease and desist from attaching such defamatory and
prejudicial labels to IPOB led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
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