IPOB decries ruling on its proscription, says it’s judicial impunity, raw wickedness

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described the Thursday ruling of the Abuja Federal High Court that affirmed its proscription and terrorist tag as nothing short of judicial impunity, recklessness and raw wickedness.

The group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful stated this in a statement he released in Awka, the Anambra State capital, wondering how a group that is not armed or violent like some Fulani herdsmen could be tagged terrorists.

Acting Chief Judge, Abdu Kafarati, had in his ruling on application brought by IPOB challenging the proscription order, resolved that the order he made on September 20, 2017, proscribing IPOB was validly issued.

But the group said in the statement, “It didn’t come to us as a surprise that the Federal High Court of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday, January 18, 2018, upheld its obnoxious order proscribing the activities of IPOB, when everybody knows that the organisation is peaceful and has not killed an ant, not to talk of taking a human life.

“Acting Chief Judge, Abdu Kafarati, while delivering judgment on the application brought by IPOB, resolved that the order he made on September 20, 2017, proscribing IPOB was validly issued.

“We remain at a loss to understand how the court could have come to this conclusion in view of the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that IPOB is an armed or violent group like some Fulani herdsmen.

“Simply put, a judge cannot be ignorant of the law and at the same time lack conscience. What Abdu Kafarati has displayed, by upholding his originally flawed judgment, is nothing short of judicial impunity, recklessness and raw wickedness.

“He failed to address all the issues before him but rather chose to be selective. The simple question which ordinary people have been asking all along is this; what activity or aspect of IPOB operations can be regarded as constituting a terrorist act?

“Can Judge Abdu Kafarati , the DSS or Attorney General’s office name one verifiable incident of breach of peace, murder, arson or rape–usually associated with Fulani herdsmen–that IPOB has ever been associated with?

“Instead of addressing these simple questions, Kafarati spent all his time outlining why tagging IPOB a terrorist organisation inside his chambers is legal. But that wasn’t the question before him for determination.

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“How can you term an organisation a terrorist group when that group has not done anything remotely resembling a terrorist act?”

Insisting that nothing has shown that IPOB is a violent group, the group said, “It beats common sense and human decency that an entirely peaceful organisation, agitating for their inalienable right to self-determination, guaranteed under all known laws to man, can be so cruelly and crudely labelled a terrorist group, because some persons see IPOB as an impediment in their quest to make Southern Nigeria an Islamic region.”

 

 

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