IPOB: Court orders Southeast govs to pay Nnamdi Kanu N8bn compensation

An Enugu High Court has issued an order mandating that the governors of the Southeast pay Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a compensation amount of N8 billion.

Justice A.O. Onovo came to the conclusion that Kanu was entitled to the money as compensation for the violation of his fundamental human rights.

During the process of rendering a decision regarding Kanu’s appeal against IPOB’s proscription, the judge issued the order.

The Southeast governors and the Federal Government were hauled before the Enugu High Court by Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, in 2017 for the proscription of IPOB and the infringement of Kanu’s fundamental rights.

The court who was ruling over the case instructed the governor of the Southeast to issue an apology to Kanu and have it published in three national publications.

This information was provided by Ejimakor in a release titled, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu/IPOB wins landmark victory against proscription of IPOB.”

This is what the statement says: “Today, I led a team of lawyers to a landmark victory before the High Court of Enugu State in SUIT NO: E/20/2023 filed in January 2023 against the Southeast Governors’ Forum and the FG (Respondents) for their collective executive actions (in 2017) that led to the proscription of IPOB and declaring it a terrorist group in contravention of Section 42 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.”

“The following reliefs were granted by the High Court (Coram Justice A.O. Onovo) after they were carefully analyzed in a ruling that lasted for more than three hours.

“Declared that the practical application of the Terrorism Prevention Act and the executive or administrative action of the Respondents (Southeast Governors Forum and the Federal Government) which directly led to the proscription of IPOB and its listing as a terrorist group, said IPOB being comprised of citizens of Nigeria of the Igbo and other Eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, professing the political opinion of self determination and the consequent arrest, detention and prosecution of the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU) as a member/leader of said IPOB is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the Applicant’s fundamental right not to be subjected to any disabilities or restrictions on the basis of his ethnicity as enshrined and guaranteed under Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and his fundamental rights as enshrined under Articles 2,3,19 &20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Enforcement and Ratification) Act.

“Declared that self-determination is not a crime and, as a result, cannot be used as a basis for arresting, detaining, or prosecuting the Applicant, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the judge wrote in the decision.

“Ordered the Respondents, jointly or severally, to issue official Letter(s) of Apology to the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) for the infringement of his said fundamental rights; and publication of said Letter(s) of Apology in three (3) national dailies. “Ordered the Respondents to issue official Letter(s) of Apology to the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) for the infringement of his said fundamental rights.

“Ordered the Respondents to, jointly or severally, pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu), which is monetary damages claimed by the Applicant against the Respondents jointly and severally for the physical, mental, emotional, psychological, property, and other damages suffered by the Applicant as a result of the infringements of his fundamental rights by the Respondents,” the judgment read. “