IPOB is urging the appellate court to set aside the ruling/final decision of the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, which outlawed its activities in Nigeria.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Abuja Court of Appeal has adjourned hearing of an appeal filed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) , filed against its proscription as a terrorist organisation by the Federal Government.
The detained leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, had earlier applied to be joined as an interested party in the appeal marked: FHC/CA/A/214/2018.
Specifically, IPOB, through its counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, is urging the appellate court to set aside in its entirety, the ruling/final decision of the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, which outlawed its activities in Nigeria on September 15, 2017 based on an ex-parte motion by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, on behalf of the Federal Government.
By the proscription, all activities of the group, particularly in the South-east and South-South regions of the country, are illegal,
It also prohibits “any person or group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities.”
The Judge directed the AGF to ensure that he published the order proscribing IPOB in the official gazette, as well as in two national dailies.
In a follow-up ruling on January 22, 2018, the court dismissed a motion IPOB filed to challenge the legal validity of the proscription order which it said was surreptitiously obtained by the AGF.
It alleged that the AGF suppressed and misrepresented facts in the affidavit evidence he tendered before the court, adding that the proscription order was tantamount to declaring over 30 million Nigerians of Igbo extraction as terrorists.
IPOB contended that Justice Abdu-Kafarati erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice, when he ruled that the mandatory statutory condition requiring President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval, under Section 2 (1) (C) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013, was satisfied, on the authority of a Memo the AGF issued on September 15, 2017.
It told the appellate court that the lower court Judge failed to evaluate, consider or mention in his rulings, affidavit evidence that was tendered to establish that IPOB was not a violent organisation.