UPDATE/Press Statement: Re: The Court Of Appeal Ruling Affirming IPOB Proscription

UPDATE/Press Statement:

Re: The Court Of Appeal Ruling Affirming IPOB Proscription.

Rising from our routine visitation of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu today, he instructed the legal team to convey the following to members of the public:

#1, The ruling yesterday by the Court of Appeal affirming the proscription of IPOB as a terror group will live in infamy and thus shall be resisted vigorously within the parameters of the law - municipal and international. Sooner than later, it shall be demonstrated that the judgment did not pass the muster of the Nigerian Constitution and the statutes pertinent to it.

#2, Members of the public should ponder these: One of the main issues we canvassed at the Court of Appeal was that the Order of proscription by the Federal High Court was obtained through an ex parte application by the Federal Government, instead of through a hearing on notice by a Judge-in-Chambers, as the pertinent law prescribed. We also argued that the proscription proceedings offended the hallowed doctrine of fair hearing enshrined in the Constitution, because IPOB was neither put on notice, nor heard before the Order of proscription ensued. In addition to these, we argued that the proscription Directive issued to the Attorney-General was signed by late Abba Kyari, and not by former President Buhari, as the relevant law required. The Court of Appeal acknowledged these laxities but it still went ahead to dismiss our appeal on the quaint premise that national security is an exception to the provisions of the Constitution.

#3, One then wonders: Wherein lies the national security risk posed by the IPOB in 2017 that warranted the flagrant breach of the Constitution that, in its intents and effects, discriminatorily targeted the Igbo as a whole. To be sure, the Constitution laid down a process to be strictly followed before any provision of the Constitution is suspended for the sake of national security. But in this case, this process was not followed at all.

#4, For avoidance of doubt, the Court of Appeal decision will hardly have any prejudicial effects on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s main case, because the decision is not final and we are heading to the Supreme Court which is - by law - the final arbiter. There are also other myriad and varied legal options that can be triggered against anybody or entity that might attempt to take undue advantage of the Court of Appeal judgment to wrought legal and constitutional injury on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Ndigbo. So, for the time being, it is legally safer and wiser for all and sundry to resist the dangerous temptation of calling Mazi Nnamdi Kanu a terrorist until he is either convicted as one (which is a tall order) or until the Supreme Court finally decides it against him (which is highly unlikely). In plain terms, the jury is still out on the issue of whether the IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu are terrorists or not. Thus, anybody or entity that seizes the adverse moment to purvey the libel that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or IPOB is a terrorist will be countervailed by epic legal actions that will be prompt, muscular and scorched-earth.

#5, Let it be clear that it is only those who are unfamiliar with the pathological and institutional disdain against the Igbo in Nigeria that will be surprised at an infamous Court ruling that manifested no regard for the Constitution of Nigeria. Elevating denial of fair hearing to a state where it receives judicial blessing is absurd and perverse to boot. And it shall not stand.

Signed:
barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Esq.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s legal team.
31st January, 2025.