The Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) could be in another serious mess as the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the Federal Government’s proscription of the organization as a terrorist movement.
While delivering ruling on Thursday, a three-member panel headed by Justice Hamma Barka unanimously affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court, which had declared IPOB an unlawful group.
The appellate court ruled that there was no ground to overturn the proscription order, adding that the Federal Government acted within the extant law in banning IPOB due to its activities, which were considered a threat to national security and unity.
The court immediately struck out the group’s appeal for lacking merit.
News Band reported that the original proscription was done on September 15, 2017, by the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati.
This followed an ex-parte motion lodged by the then-Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, on behalf of the government.
Justice Kafarati had declared IPOB’s activities illegal, particularly in the South-East and South-South regions, and barred individuals or groups from participating in its operations.
He also directed the Attorney General to publish the proscription order in the official gazette and two national newspapers.
Also, in January 2018, the court dismissed IPOB’s appeal against the proscription order, prompting the group to take the matter to the Court of Appeal.
In its appeal, IPOB, represented by a legal team led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Chukwuma-Machukwu Umeh, argued that the proscription was obtained through misrepresentation of facts and amounted to labeling over 30 million Igbos as terrorists.
However, the appellate court rejected the arguments and upheld the proscription.
