Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Friday asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the order proscribing and designating it as a terrorist organisation, insisting that it is non-violent.
Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, had last Wednesday, issued the proscription order upon an ex parte application by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami.
The Defence Headquarters had already classified IPOB as a “militant terrorist organisation” and South-East governors had proscribed it before the court gave its own order.
But in a motion filed before Justice Kafarati by Kanu’s counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the group contended that the proscription order was unconstitutional, adding that IPOB was denied fair hearing before the order was issued.
The motion was based 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.”
Other grounds of the application are “that the ex parte order made on the 20th day of September 2017 by this Honorable Court was made without jurisdiction, as the order was granted against an entity unknown to law.
“That there is a clear suppression and misrepresentation of facts in the Attorney General’s Affidavit evidence, pursuance to which the Order was granted.
“That the Order is unconstitutional, as it was made in clear violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right of the Indigenous People of Biafra to self determination; Article 20(1) of the Africa Charter on Human & 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.
“That a declaratory order cannot be made pursuant to an ex parte Application, without hearing from the party against whom the order was made."
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