IPOB’s proscription ethnic discrimination against Igbo nation — Nnamdi Kanu

THE detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has said that the proscription of the group (IPOB) is tantamount to ethnic discrimination against the Igbos in the South-East region of the country.

Addressing a world press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Kanu’s Special Counsel, Alloy Ejimakor, said the Arewa Youth Forum of the Hausa/Fulani ethnic stock, the Odua Peoples Congress of the Yoruba nation, and the Niger Delta Avengers of the ljaw nation and the Miyetti Allah that were not proscribed by the Federal Government showed discrimination against the Igbos.

He alleged that the action of the Federal Government in proscribing IPOB was driven by ethnic consideration against the Igbo nation.
According to Kanu, through his legal team, the questionable administrative action to proscribe IPOB and declare it a terrorist group was preceded by the infamous public declaration made by SouthEast governors proscribing
IPOB on September 17, 2017.

“Accordingly, on 20th September 2017, the government of Nigeria filed an ex parte application before a Federal High Court, seeking a formal judicial order to proscribe IPOB and declare it a terrorist group.

“The next day, September 21, 2027, late Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja made an ex parte order (without prior notice to IPOB or giving it an opportunity to make repre-sentations) declaring IPOB a terrorist organisation and further ordering its proscription.”

He added that the order was made under the colour of the provisions of Nigeria’s Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, as amended.

In taking the decision to proscribe IPOB and declare it a terrorist group, Ejimakor said, neither the South-East governors nor the Federal Government had recourse to Section 42 of the Nigerian Constitution which prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity and political opinion.

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He said, by gazetting the ex parte terrorist and proscription order, millions of IPOB
members and their leader (Kanu) will be treated as terrorist and their properties (real or corporate) will become subject to interdiction and confiscation by the Nigerian state without opportunity of being heard.

While narrating Kanu’s ordeal in the hand of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, Ejimakor said the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the United Nations had, in a letter dated October 1, 2020 to the President of Nigeria, condemned the action of the Federal Government on the proscription of IPOB and said the action was motivated by ethnic bias and discrimination against the Igbo.

Also speaking, a member of the legal team, Nnaemeka Ejiofor, alleged that the Federal Government meant to eliminate Kanu in an Operation Python Dance by the military in his home town in Abia State where several lives were lost.