BY NICK NWAFOR
A state High Court sitting in Enugu on Thursday ordered Federal Government to apologize to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, for the proscription of his group.
The court ruled that the proscription of IPOB was unlawful.
Justice A.O Onovo declared that reliance on the country’s Terrorism Prevention Act and the administrative action of the South East Governors Forum to proscribe IPOB violated Section 42 of the country’s constitution.
Justice Onovo said that Article 2, 3, 19 and 20 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples rights (Enforcement and Ratification Act) recognize self determination, therefore, the proscription in the first place contravened the Charter which Nigeria was signatory to.
The court ordered the Nigerian government to publicly apologize to Kanu and IPOB, adding that self determination was not a crime, and therefore cannot be used as the basis to arrest, detain and prosecute the IPOB leader.
The court ordered the respondent on the case, the Federal Government to pay in January the sum of N8 billion for damages.
It would be recalled that Kanu dragged the Federal Government to court in January 2023 to challenge the proscription of IPOB in 2017 and the subsequent rebelling the group as a terrorist organization.
