The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has said the Nigerian government owes its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a total of N9.5 billion in damages from unappealed court judgments.
Spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, disclosed this in a
clarification issued by the 4th administration of the IPOB Directorate of
State, DOS, on Thursday.
The group highlighted what it described as the unassailable
record of Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, noting that the clarification
was a direct response to sustained misinformation by agents deployed by the
Nigerian state to prosecute the
demarketing agenda against Kanu.
According to IPOB, Ejimakor has scored a series of landmark
victories at both domestic and international levels in the pursuit of justice
and Kanu’s freedom.
However, IPOB expressed regrets that the judgments secured
in Kanu’s favour by Ejimakor were disobeyed by the Nigerian government.
“These judgments were brazenly disobeyed by the Nigerian
state. All remain subsisting and unoverturned. The Federal Republic of Nigeria,
the DSS, the Nigerian Army, and the South-East Governors’ Forum stand
thoroughly defeated in multiple courts and cumulatively owe Mazi Nnamdi Kanu a
whopping ₦9.5 billion in damages.
“None of these judgments was appealed by the Nigerian
Government. No other lawyer who previously represented our leader and IPOB has
ever attained this level of success,” IPOB said.
It listed the subsisting judgments won by Kanu and IPOB
against the Nigerian Government with Ejimakor’s direct input as follows:
“January 2022 – Abia State High Court, Umuahia: The first
victory declaring that MNK did not jump bail, arising from the September 2017
military invasion of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s ancestral home during Operation Python
Dance (in which 28 persons were killed). The court awarded ₦1 billion in
damages, ordered an apology, and recommended a political solution.
“October 2022 – Federal High Court, Umuahia Division: The
first High Court declaration that MNK is a victim of unlawful Extraordinary
Rendition. The court awarded ₦500 million damages, declared his detention
illegal, ordered the Federal Government to restore him to pre-rendition status,
apologize, and stop his prosecution. The extraordinary rendition argument that
won the acquittal-equivalent discharge of 13 October 2022 was crafted by
Barrister Aloy Ejimakor and no other – a fact our leader Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi
Kanu has confirmed on numerous occasions during visitation.
“October 2023 – State High Court, Enugu declared the 2017
proscription of IPOB as a terrorist group unconstitutional, ordered the
South-East Governors’ Forum and Federal Government to pay ₦8 billion
compensation to MNK/IPOB, and affirmed that self-determination is not a crime.
This remains a landmark victory against the illegal proscription of our
movement. These domestic triumphs alone establish an unpayable debt of ₦9.5
billion and a record of total legal defeat for the Nigerian state on these core
issues.”
It added that Ejimakor successfully engaged the African
Union Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (March 2018 Decision) which
condemned the arrest/trial of Kanu and IPOB members, the proscription of IPOB,
and Operation Python Dance as violations of the African Charter to which
Nigeria is a signatory. The Commission directed late President Muhammadu Buhari
to stop further arrests and prosecutions and to reverse the proscription.
IPOB added that Ejimakor also drove multiple United Nations
interventions, I coughing the 2017–2018 Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial,
Summary or Arbitrary Detentions ruling against Nigeria’s mistreatment of IPOB
and Python Dance; the July 2022 United Nations Human Rights Council
extraordinary rendition victory directing MNK’s release and compensation while
declaring IPOB’s activity as self-determination and not crime.
It noted that Ejimakor was also involved in the October 2022
additional UN Special Rapporteur findings confirming arbitrary detention and
rendition; and the May 2021 UN Special Rapporteur decision declaring the
proscription of IPOB as discrimination against Igbo people and a violation of
the UN Charter.
These interventions collectively made it impossible for the
Nigerian government to convince foreign countries to tag IPOB a terrorist
organisation, the group said.
IPOB also listed the June 2025 Kenya High Court declaration
that Kanu’s abduction and forcible rendition were unlawful and
unconstitutional.
“Barrister Aloy Ejimakor successfully litigated the
Operation Python Dance invasion of our leader’s home where 28 people were
killed. He successfully litigated the extraordinary rendition of Onyendu and
secured declaratory judgments mandating restoration to pre-rendition status. He
successfully engaged the African Union and United Nations, rendering Nigeria’s
terrorist tag on IPOB a global non-starter. He won the landmark victory against
the illegal proscription of IPOB,” the group stressed.
IPOB declared that no other attorney, either living or dead,
has won more landmark cases in the service of Kanu and IPOB than Ejimakor,
adding the coordinated and sponsored campaign of calumny against the group and
those who serve it under Kanu has been defeated.
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