IPOB Laywers Write UK Over Alleged Designation As Terrorist Group

The legal team of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has announced plans to write the United Kingdom over the alleged designation of the group as a terrorist organisation.

According to the lawyers, the news making the rounds that the group had been proscribed by the UK government was orchestrated by mischief makers and enemies of the South East.

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lawyer to the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, stated this in a statement released on Saturday, Naija News reports.

Ejiofor stated that the British High Commission had said that it had proscribed IPOB as a terrorist group in the UK, adding that IPOB legal will write to the UK Government on this subject this week.

He said: “In the coming days, the IPOB legal team will make formal representation to the UK government on this subject via the British High Commission in Nigeria, accompanied with verifiable facts and evidence, to persuade the UK government to review their recent position.

“For clarity, the government of the United Kingdom has not designated the IPOB as a terrorist organisation, rather, reference was made to the proscription of the organisation in Nigeria and also the heinous crimes being perpetrated by some dissidents in the South-East, which said crimes are totally condemnable and have nothing whatsoever to do with the IPOB, which is a peaceful, non-violent self-determination group. The IPOB remains a lawful and peaceful movement.

“Therefore, all foreign governments are persuaded not to rely on largely fabricated publications on the pages of Nigerian newspapers in arriving at such a far-reaching decision, which is capable of endangering millions of innocent lives, who are being persecuted in Nigeria for being members of the IPOB.

“Following the UK Government’s update vide the UKVI, which is clear and unambiguous in every respect, the direction contained in the referenced update is that IPOB-affiliated applicants seeking asylum status in the UK should not be considered on the merit of such claims without a thorough review of their level of involvement in uncivil activities.”

Ejiofor said the leadership of the IPOB has severally distanced the worsening security challenges and the lockdown exercise in the South East.

He added that the group had stated its readiness to assist security operatives in tracking down the unknown gunmen responsible for the violence and killings in the region.

He added: “Obviously making reference to the proscription of IPOB in Nigeria, and relying on such sub-judicial subject to insist that the granting of asylum status on the basis of IPOB-related persecution claims, can no longer be as a matter of course.

“It is pertinent to point out that the leadership of the IPOB has severally distanced the peaceful movement from the increasing violent activities of some blood-sucking monsters going on in the South-East under the name of unknown gunmen, and in most cases, offered to join in the fight against these monsters.

“The leadership of IPOB has never supported the nefarious activities of these enemies of our people, neither have they, in any of their publications, approved such inhuman and barbaric activities of the unknown gunmen.”

Ejiofor reminded the UK government that the proscription of IPOB was a subject of a lawsuit pending before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

The IPOB lawyer noted that the case would be coming up on October 12, 2022, for a definite hearing.