The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organization.
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The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel led by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which outlawed IPOB.
In the lead judgment, Justice Hamma Barka resolved all the issues raised for determination against the appellant – IPOB declared the appeal unmeritorious and dismissed it.
The court held that it found no reason to set aside the order obtained by the Federal Government against the group.
According to the court, the FG acted lawfully in proscribing the organization, whose activities threatened the nation’s security and continued existence.
It resolved all the issues against IPOB and dismissed its appeal for lack of merit.
It will be recalled that the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, had, in a ruling delivered on September 15, 2017, outlawed IPOB’s activities in Nigeria.
The proscription order followed an ex-parte motion filed by the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, on behalf of the Federal Government.
Specifically, Justice 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 directed the AGF to ensure that the proscription order was published in the official gazette and in two national dailies.
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, which it claimed was surreptitiously obtained by the AGF.
Dissatisfied with the decisions, IPOB approached the appellate court to set them aside.
The organization, in its appeal marked FHC/CA/A/214/2018, filed through its team of lawyers led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Umeh, urged the appellate court to set aside the ruling/final decision of the high court in its entirety.
It alleged that the then AGF suppressed and misrepresented facts in the affidavit evidence he tendered before the court, maintaining that the proscription order amounted to declaring over 30 million Nigerians of Igbo extraction as terrorists.
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