Stop referring to IPOB as a terrorist organization – Nnamdi Kanu’s lead counsel, Ejimakor warns

Aloy Ejimakor, the lead counsel for Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Friday urged the Presidency, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police, and the public to stop labeling the group as a terrorist organization.

Ejimakor cautioned that such defamatory and prejudicial labeling of IPOB would be vigorously contested through litigation and other lawful measures. He referenced a current High Court judgment in Nigeria, which declared that the proscription

In a statement he signed, Ejimakor said: “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s Legal Team is under firm instructions from our client to issue this final warning to all persons and institutions still referring to IPOB as a terrorist organization.

“Henceforth, any further reference to IPOB as a terrorist organization will be met and countervailed with muscular litigation and other lawful measures, regardless of the entity involved. This is because there is a subsisting judgment of a competent High Court in Nigeria (attached herewith) which ruled that IPOB’s proscription/declaration as a terrorist group by Buhari is illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional. Compliance with this judgment strictly demands that IPOB should no longer be referred to as a terrorist organization.

“Additionally, those labeling IPOB as a terrorist organization have not provided any evidence that IPOB has engaged in any terrorist activity. This is underscored by the fact that since the so-called proscription of IPOB in 2017, no single alleged IPOB member has been convicted of any terrorist act, despite thousands of arrests, abductions, torture, false flags, and extrajudicial killings levied against its alleged members.

“Accordingly, we hereby demand that the general public, the Presidency, the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, and any erring media houses should forthwith cease and desist from attaching such defamatory and prejudicial labels to IPOB led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”