The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday upheld the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra as a terrorist organisation.
In a unanimous decision, a three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Hamma Barka, affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had outlawed IPOB.
The court ruled that there was no basis to overturn the order obtained by the Federal Government against the group. It held that the government acted lawfully in proscribing the organisation, whose activities were deemed a threat to national security and the continued existence of Nigeria.
Resolving all issues against IPOB, the court dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.
It will be recalled that on September 15, 2017, the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, had issued an order outlawing IPOB’s activities in Nigeria.
The proscription order was granted following an ex-parte motion filed by the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, on behalf of the Federal Government.
In the ruling, Justice Abdu-Kafarati declared all activities of the group illegal, particularly in the South-East and South-South regions of the country.
He further restrained “any person or group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities.”
The judge also directed the AGF to publish the proscription order in the official gazette as well as in two national newspapers.
Subsequently, in a follow-up ruling on January 22, 2018, the court dismissed a motion filed by IPOB challenging the legal validity of the proscription order. The group had argued that the order was obtained surreptitiously by the AGF.
Unhappy with the decisions, IPOB took its case to the Court of Appeal, seeking to have the proscription order set aside.
In its appeal, marked FHC/CA/A/214/2018, and filed through its legal team led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Umeh, IPOB urged the appellate court to nullify the ruling and final decision of the high court in its entirety.
The group alleged that the then AGF suppressed and misrepresented facts in the affidavit evidence presented before the court. It maintained that the proscription order amounted to declaring over 30 million Nigerians of Igbo extraction as terrorists.
However, with the latest ruling by the Court of Appeal, the proscription of IPOB as a terrorist organisation remains legally binding.
