The Indigenous People of Biafra on Friday asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the order proscribing it and designating it as a terrorist group.
The Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, had on Wednesday issued the proscription order upon an ex parte application by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami.
But in a motion filed by IPOB’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, before the same judge on Friday, the group contended that the proscription order was unconstitutional.
On Friday, newsmen sighted the proof of service showing that IPOB’s motion was served on the AGF’s office shortly after it was filed before the court on Friday.
The motion was anchored on 13 grounds, first of which was that the proscription order was made without jurisdiction “as the order was granted against an entity unknown to law.”
The group also alleged that the AGF suppressed and misrepresented facts in obtaining the proscription order of the court.
It added, “That the ex parte order was made in clear violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right of IPOB to self-determination; Article 20(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, now domesticated into our Law under (Ratification and Enforcement Act) (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990; right to fair hearing, right to freedoms of expression, and the press and rights to peaceful assembly and association; clearly provided for under Sections 36, 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as (Amended) 2011.”
Insisting that the proscription order was made in error, the group contended that “the honourable court has the inherent powers to set aside its orders when either granted without jurisdiction or granted in error.”
It maintained that the process of proscribing it was hasty in a manner that suggested “clear manifestation of high-powered ethnic conspiracy” against it and the Igbo in general.
The group claimed that over 200 of its “unarmed and defenceless members were massacred during the military’s Operation Python Dance II in the South-East.
It stated that during the military operation, the military invaded and unleashed “unprovoked bloody attack” on the home of Nnamdi Kanu (the leader of IPOB), whose whereabouts it stated “has remained unknown since September 14.”
Describing the proscription order as politically motivated, IPOB stated that the order was meant to suppress the wishes and aspiration of the Igbo people.
The Indigenous People of Biafra also urged the United Nations, African Union, European Union, United States and others to investigate the alleged extra-judicial killing of its members by soldiers in the course of Operation Python Dance II.
The group also commended the National Assembly over its decision to investigate the alleged killing and the activities of IPOB.
A statement by IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, on Friday, partly read, “Since the inception of this present Biafra agitation championed by IPOB, nobody can testify or state where IPOB was involved in criminal activity, but Nigerian soldiers have been abducting, maiming and killing our members, starting from August 30, 2015.
“We would be very pleased if National Assembly members could come and investigate this recent massacre in Abia and Rivers states. IPOB engaged in several peaceful protests and rallies across the globe without any record of violence or breakdown of law of any sort within the country called Nigeria.
