Justice A. O. Onovo of the Enugu State High Court made a significant ruling on Thursday, declaring the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the South-East Governors’ Forum as illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void.
In 2017, the South-East Governors Forum, led by former Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, issued a proscription of IPOB activities. This move ultimately led to the Federal Government classifying IPOB as a terrorist organisation three days later.
IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, represented by his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, approached the court to seek the reversal of the proscription.
Kanu argued that IPOB was an organisation comprising citizens of Nigeria from the Igbo and other eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, advocating for the right to self-determination.
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He urged the court to declare his arrest, detention, and prosecution as illegal and a violation of his fundamental rights. Furthermore, he said that self-determination is not a criminal offence and should not be a basis for arrest, detention, or prosecution.
He subsequently requested the court mandate the defendants to award him N8 billion in compensation “for the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological trauma he was subjected to.”
In a significant ruling, Justice Onovo concurred with Kanu’s arguments and declared the proscription of IPOB “unconstitutional and illegal.”
The court ordered the defendants to pay N8 billion in damages and issue a public apology to Kanu through newspaper publications.
Following the judgement, Kanu’s lawyer, Ejimakor, expressed gratitude for the ruling and stressed the importance of justice in this matter. He stated, “The court has reaffirmed the hopes of the common man in the judiciary. You have saved thousands of lives.”
