The legal team representing Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has issued a public notice to stop referring to the group as a terrorist organisation.
The statement, signed by Aloy Ejimakor on Friday, noted that the group is acting under direct instructions from Kanu to issue this final warning.
The legal team threatened legal action against anyone who continued to contravene a court order that declared IPOB’s proscription illegal.
“Henceforth, any further reference to IPOB as a terrorist organisation will be met and countervailed with a muscular litigation and other lawful measures, regardless of who the entity is,” the statement reads.
“This is because there is a subsisting judgement 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.”
It added that those calling IPOB a terrorist organisation have not adduced a scintilla of evidence that IPOB has ever engaged in any terrorist activity.
“This is underscored by the verifiable 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, horrendous torture, false flags and extrajudicial killings levied against its alleged members,” it wrote.
The team, however, demanded that the “general public, Presidency, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police, and any erring media houses” stop labelling IPOB in such defamatory and prejudicial terms.
The team, in a statement signed by 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 organisation.
“Henceforth, any further reference to IPOB as a terrorist organisation 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 judgement strictly demands that IPOB should no longer be referred to as a terrorist organisation.
“Additionally, those labeling IPOB as a terrorist organisation 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, the 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.”
