A State High Court sitting in Enugu has nullified proscription of IPOB as a terrorist organisation.
Justice Anthony Onovo of the Enugu State High Court, on Thursday, ruled that the proscription of the group by the South-East Governors’ Forum is illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void.
In 2017, the South-East Governors Forum led by former Gov David Umahi of Ebonyi State, proscribed IPOB activities. The development led to the Federal Government listing IPOB as a terror organisation three days later.
However, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, through his counsel, Mr Aloy Ejimakor, approached the court to seek the reversal of the prescription.
Kanu sought the court’s declaration that IPOB proscription was illegal as 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.”
Northern Consensus Movement Withdraws Ultimatum on Igbos Living In The North
The IPOB leader prayed the court to declare his “arrest and consequent detention and prosecution as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.”
He urged the court to make a declaration that “self-determination is not a crime and thus cannot be used as a basis to arrest, detain and prosecute the applicant.”
He then prayed the court to compel the defendants to pay him N8bn in damages “for the physical, mental, emotional and psychological trauma he was subjected to.”
One thought on “Court Orders FG To Pay Nnamdi Kanu 8 Billion Naira, Lifts Ban On IPOB”