By Adadainfo
The special counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Barr Aloy Ejimakor, weekend, made a case for the reversal of the terrorist-group designation of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
Kanu is the leader of IPOB, which is proscribed in Nigeria by a presidential declaration.
Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja, declined the reversal in a suit by one of Kanu’s counsel, Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
Kafarati ruled that the basic instrument in the particular ex-parte motion for designating IPOB as a terrorist organization was the approval of the Nigerian president.
Ejimakor submitted that, “When you declared a group that represents millions a terrorist group and every nation in the world disagreed with you, REVERSE it.
“When you renditioned and detained a man just because he’s gutsy, and Abia High Court and United Nations disagreed with you, RELEASE him.”
Ejimakor regretted that the federal government failed to comply with the ruling of the Umuahia High Court which ruled in favour of Mazi Kanu, courtesy of his suit against the FG. The court also awarded N1bn damages to Kanu.
He said, “It is manifest injustice for the Abuja court to have ignored the Umuahia judgment and still hold that Kanu jumped bail.
“It means that the Nigerian government, which forced Kanu out of Nigeria, is judicially allowed to benefit from its own wrong of compelling him to flee from Nigeria. This cannot happen elsewhere except in Nigeria.”
The Umuahia court, in the ruling against the FG, stated that Kanu’s rights were violated by Nigerian government when the military invaded his country home while he was on bail, and awarded N1bn damages in his favour.
The court ruled that the act violated Mr Kanu’s right to life, dignity of his human person, his personal liberty and his privacy.
The presidency, through presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, had last month interpreted a UK release that IPOB was designated a terrorist group in Britain.
UK High Commission in Nigeria later clarified that it never designated IPOB as a terrorist group.
The commission stated that, “We are aware of inaccurate reporting circulating in the media and online that the UK Government has added IPOB to the UK’s list of terrorist groups or organisations banned under UK law,.
“These reports are untrue. The ‘Indigenous People of Biafra’ (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the UK.”
Recall that Ejimakor had said after the Umuahia judgement that, “If your fundamental rights were violated, then it means that legally, you cannot be said to have jumped bail because the idea of jumping bail and the rendition are all related to what happened (the military invasion) in 2017.
“So if what led to his inability to face his trial in 2017 was a violation by the government of Nigeria, then legally speaking you cannot say that he jumped bail.”
