Like a foretold conclusion, the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday granted an application made by the federal government seeking the proscription of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), a body fi ghting for actualisation of defunct Biafra republic.
Th e Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafafati, outlawed IPOB on the strength of an ex-parte motion that was fi led by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, on behalf of the government. Kafarati declared as illegal, all activities of the body, particularly in the South-east and South-south zones and “restrained any group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities.
” It would be recalled that the Nigerian Army had on the heels of its code-named operation Python Dance II in the Southeast and South-south zones of the country, declared the IPOB an illegal organization. Soon after that, fi ve governors of the Southeast states also proscribed the IPOB and its activities in the South-east states.
However, the actions of the military and governors elicited varied reactions, with the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, siding with those who, unfortunately, saw the reason to kick against the group’s proscription. Saraki specifi cally said that the Nigerian Army lacked the constitutional powers to proscribe the group.
Th ough the group was proscribed when President Muhammadu Buhari is in the USA for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, it was said, by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr.. Lai Mohammed, that he has approved the process for proscription of the group. Th e minister, speaking in Abuja, said: “For those who are fi xated with legality, I have good news for them: President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the process of proscribing IPOB…
But I ask, if the President had been overly concerned with legality, where would Nigeria have been today? If attacks in the South-east had attracted reprisals elsewhere in the country, what would have happened? But for the quick action of state governors in the Southeast and the North, there would have been a confl agration of immense proportions.” Th e minister commended the South-east governors for being proactive and making it clear to IPOB that it has no support for its violent campaign, saying:
“Th e governors have cut off the oxygen that IPOB needs to survive. If the elected governors of all the states in the South-east have banned the activities of IPOB, who then is the organization fi ghting for? IPOB is a contraption against the Buhari Administration, and that it is being sponsored by those I call the Coalition of the Politically-Disgruntled and the Treasury Looters.
I stand by that statement despite th noise emanating from the usual suspects.” And, of course, the minister cannot be faulted on his claims. For whom are the group’s members fi ghting for?
Certainly not on behalf of the civilized Igbo nation, whose members are spread and practicing all manner of legitimate trade, with about 11 million of them said to be practicing their trade outside of the outh-east. Asked why IPOB was considered a terrorist organization when its members do not carry arms, the minister said: “I think anybody who has watched Nnamdi Kanu’s videos anywhere he goes to he openly solicits for arms and for funds.
I have a lot of quotations from him as to the violence intention of IPOB, in one of his videos he said if he is arrested his boys should burn down the country.” Burn down the country, of course, the IPOB members cannot and they should not be allowed to do so for as Mohammed has pointed out, the peace that we enjoy is deceptive and we must continue to work on it.
It is on this note, therefore, that the Buhariled administration must be commended for seeking and legally obtaining the proscription of the murderous IPOB, whose sponsors are corrupt, unpatriotic and desperate. In fact, they are, as it now begins to manifest itself, the nation’s treasury looters who would do everything possible to distract the government from its determined fi ght against corruption.
Like Mohammed had reasoned, if by any act, God forbid it, Nigeria is today engulfed in war as a result of IPOB activities, the priority of the government will be to bring peace. But under such an unwanted situation, the attention of the government must be distracted from its anti-corruption war while persons who have case to answer in court, and they are many, providing fund and support to the IPOB, will be forgotten.
