Court nullifies ban on IPOB, FG to pay Nnamdi Kano N8bn as damages

A High Court sitting in Enugu State yesterday, declared the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, by the South-East Governors’ Forum as illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void.

This was as the Court asked the Federal Government to also compensate the Leader of the Pro-Biafra group, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for the physical, psychological and health damages done him.

Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice A. O. Onovo asked the Nigeria Federal Government and South-East Governors to pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and tender a public apology to him through newspaper publications.

Recall that in 2017, the South-East Governors Forum, led by former Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, had proscribed IPOB activities, leading to the listing of IPOB as a terror organisation three days later by the Federal Government

However, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, through his counsel, Mr Aloy Ejimakor, approached the court to seek the reversal of the proscription.

Kanu sought the court’s declaration that IPOB proscription was illegal as it was an organisation “composed of citizens of Nigeria of the Igbo and other eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, professing the political opinion of self-determination.”

The IPOB leader prayed the court to declare his “arrest and consequent detention and prosecution as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.”

He urged the court to make a declaration that “self-determination is not a crime and thus cannot be used as a basis to arrest, detain and prosecute the applicant.”

He then prayed the court to compel the defendants to pay him N8bn in damages “for the physical, mental, emotional and psychological trauma he was subjected to.”

In his judgment on Thursday, Justice Onovo agreed with Kanu and declared IPOB proscription “unconstitutional and illegal.”

He also ordered the defendants to pay him N8bn damages and to tender a public apology to him through newspaper publications.

Addressing journalists shortly after the judgment, Kanu’s lawyer, Ejimakor, said, “We are grateful that justice has prevailed over this matter since 2017. The court has reaffirmed the hopes of the common man in the judiciary. You have saved thousands of lives.”

In another development, the Minister of State for Steel Development, Maigari Ahmadu has said the Federal Government is set to revamp the country’s steel sector as part of efforts to enhance the economy, create employment opportunities and speed up industrialisation.

Ahmadu, who stated this during a familiarisation visit to the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo on Friday, at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, Awka area of the state, pointed out that he recognises the state as a “cluster of industrial development in the country”.

The Minister, who had earlier conducted round facilities at the Metallurgical Training Institute in Onitsha, expressed optimism that both the federal and state governments would help scale up interest in skills acquisition and liaise with the institute, as a way to eradicate poverty while revealing that the visit was the first facility tour he would be embarking on under his watch, saying that it was a result of a carefully planned agenda.

He said, “The present administration is passionate about the steel sector. The MTI, Onitsha would get serious attention under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu while thinking outside the box within their limited resources.”

While receiving the Minister, Soludo commended the present administration for prioritising the important things and expressed optimism that the present government will put things in place to unleash the great potential of the country.

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