The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government for labelling his group as a terrorist organisation.
In the suit marked E/20/2023, and filed by Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, the IPOB leader is seeking an order that self-determination is not a crime and consequently cannot be held on to arrest, detain and prosecute him and the members of IPOB.
Nnamdi Kanu
Asides from the federal government, other Respondents are the President, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Governor of Ebonyi State, and the South-East Governors.
The matter which was filed before an Enugu State High Court asked the court to bar the Respondents from taking a further step in “any criminal prosecutions of the Applicant and members of IPOB on the basis of the said proscription of IPOB and its listing as a terrorist group.”
The suit began with originating Application Brought Pursuant to Order II Rules 1 & 2 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Articles 2, 3, 19 & 20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Act and under the jurisdiction of the Court as preserved by Sections 6 and 46 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
Kanu contended that the proscription of IPOB and its listing as a terrorist organisation is illegal under section 42 of the 1999 constitution as amended and under Articles 2, 3, 19 & 20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Enforcement and Ratification) Act.
