A high Court seated in Enugu and presided over by Justice A. Onovo has declared the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) unconstitutional.
ENigeria News reports that in 2017 Southeast governors under the aegis of the South-East Governors Forum, led by former Gov David Umahi of Ebonyi State proscribed IPOB and banned its activities across the South-East. Following the development, the Federal Government listed IPOB as a terror organization three days later.
IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu objected and approached the court through his Counsel, Mr. Alloy Ejimakor to seek the reversal of the prescription.
Kanu sought the court’s declaration that IPOB proscription was illegal as it was an organization “composed of citizens of Nigeria of the Igbo and other eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, professing the political opinion of self-determination.”
The IPOB leader prayed the court to declare his “arrest and consequent detention and prosecution as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.”
He urged the court to make a declaration that “self-determination is not a crime and thus cannot be used as a basis to arrest, detain and prosecute the applicant.”
He then prayed the court to compel the defendants to pay him N8bn in damages “for the physical, mental, emotional and psychological trauma he was subjected to.”
In his judgment on Thursday, Justice Onovo agreed with Kanu and declared IPOB proscription “unconstitutional and illegal.”
He also ordered the defendants to pay him N8bn damages and to tender a public apology to him through newspaper publications.
Addressing journalists shortly after the judgment, Kanu’s lawyer, Ejimakor, said, “We are grateful that justice has prevailed over this matter since 2017. The court has reaffirmed the hopes of the common man in the judiciary. You have saved thousands of lives.”
Meanwhile ENigeria News correspondent in the South-East is reporting that there is jubilation in the area following the pronouncement by the Enugu High Court, as people strongly believe that the development could suggest that respite would return soon to the entire region.
Source: ENigeria News
