Judge Overturns Ipob ban, Gives Kanu N8 billion
On Thursday, Justice A. O. Onovo of the Enugu State High Court ruled that the South-East Governors’ Forum’s proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra was unlawful, unconstitutional, and therefore void.
Former Ebonyi State governor David Umahi reportedly led the South-East Governors Forum in banning IPOB activities in 2017. Three days later, the federal government designated IPOB as a terrorist group, as reported by The PUNCH.
IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, however, petitioned the court to reverse the prescription through his attorney, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor.
Kanu asked the court to rule that the proscription of IPOB was appropriate since it was an organisation “composed of citizens of Nigeria of the Igbo and other eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, professing the political opinion of self-determination.”
The leader of the IPOB asked the court to rule that his “arrest and consequent detention and prosecution as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.”
Specifically, he asked the court to rule that “self-determination is not a crime and thus cannot be used as a basis to arrest, detain, and prosecute the applicant.”
Next, he asked the judge to order the defendants to pay him N8 billion in compensation “for the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological trauma he was subjected to.”
Justice Onovo agreed with Kanu in his Thursday ruling, calling the ban on IPOB “unconstitutional and illegal.”
He also demanded an apology in the form of newspaper articles and N8 billion in damages from the accused.
Just after the verdict was announced, Kanu’s attorney Ejimakor addressed the media, saying, “We are grateful that justice has prevailed over this subject since 2017. The court has restored faith in the judicial system on the part of the average citizen. You have prevented countless tragedies.
