Stop calling IPOB terrorist group – Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer to presidency, army, others

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.

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“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.”