Despite public outcry and oppositions from the United States, UK, France and the EU, the Federal Government has hurriedly gazetted the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja which purportedly proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and designated the group as a terrorist organization.
The gazetting, notwithstanding the fact that IPOB had gone to court to challenge the controversial order, is part of the requirements imposed on the Federal Government by the court to finalise the proscription of the group.
The Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court , Abdu Kafarati, had, on September 20, issued the proscription order upon an ex parte application by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).
The order has been widely castigated by eminent Nigerians lawyers and majority of Nigerians see the tagging of IPOB as a terror group to have been done in bad faith, since according to them, the pro-Biafran group is a non-violent and unarmed group.
The United States, UK, France and the EU have all said that they don’t see IPOB as a terror group.
President of the EU Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Junker, had openly warned the Nigerian military against what he described as their ill hearted and unprofessional handling of democratic issues and the rights of the people. Junker cautioned the Nigerian military chiefs that they must employ every democratic tenet to handle issues that concern the agitations of the citizens in Nigeria.
IPOB had , through its lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, 48 hours after the court’s proscription order was issued, filed a motion on September 22 (Friday) before the same court, seeking the nullification of the controversial order. Te group argued, among other things, that the court lacked jurisdiction.
However, a copy of the five-page gazette, issued on Monday, was printed and published by the Federal Government Printer in Lagos on September 20, 2017, the date the Federal High Court in Abuja issued the proscription order.
The document, signed by the AGF, is titled, ‘Terrorism (Prevention) (Proscription Order) Notice, 2017’ is contained in Volume 104 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette.
With the gazetting of the proscription order, the Federal Government, through the Central Authority Unit of the Federal Ministry of Justice, will now commence moves to notify banks, Nigerian embassies abroad and foreign missions operating in Nigeria.
It is also expected that President Muhammadu Buhari will appoint an Administrator, who would oversee the forfeiture of IPOB’s assets, home and abroad, to the Federal Government.
But with the US, UK, France and the EU disagreeing that IPOB is a terror group, it would be impossible for the Buhari’s government to get the international cooperation it needs.
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