Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has rejected the Nigerian government’s failure to hear an appeal challenging IPOB’s proscription as a terrorist organization.
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has set October 16 as the date to hear the appeal filed by IPOB to contest its designation as a terrorist organization.
Kanu’s lawyer, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, reported that despite the case being listed for a hearing in the Registry for CA/A/214/2018 in 2018, it was removed from the Registry without any communication to the court.
Ejimakor stated that the court has not provided a new hearing date for the appeal and plans to write to the appellate court within 10 days.
Ejimakor reported that the case was last listed for hearing on March 7 but was adjourned due to election petitions. The next date was today and it was on the cause list.
Upon arrival in court, we were surprised to find it no longer on the cause list for today, instead being renamed to ‘election petitions’.
Kanu has criticized the adjournment, claiming that the Court of Apeal’s refusal to hear the IPOB appeal is an indirect affirmation of the “unjust” proscription.
After visiting Nnamdi Kanu, he requested me to publicly criticize the adjournment of the IPOB’s appeal against its proscription since 2018.
Ejimakor plans to submit a letter tomorrow morning requesting a new date no later than 10 days from tomorrow.
Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari prohibited IPOB due to alleged killings and atrocities in its agitation for the Biafra Nation’s actualization.
On January 18, 2018, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the proscription of IPOB by the government of former President Buhari was valid.
Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court proscribed IPOB, declaring all activities, particularly in the Southeast and South-South regions of Nigeria, as illegal, following an ex-parte motion by the Nigerian government.
The group sought the Court of Appeal to overturn the lower court’s order and motion ex parte, arguing that the trial court erred in law.
IPOB argued that Justice Abdu-Kafarati erred in law and caused a miscarriage of justice by determining that the mandatory statutory condition requiring Buhari’s approval was satisfied, based on a Memo issued on September 15, 2017.
