Right Violations: Court Orders FG, South East Govs to Apologise, Pay Kanu N8bn
Afimag.com –
A High Court sitting in Enugu, Enugu State, has on October 26, 2023, directed the Federal Government of Nigeria and South-East Governors to compensate the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu with the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira).
The presiding judge, Justice A. O Onovo, also, ordered the respondents to apologise to Kanu for the violation of his fundamental rights.
This was aftermath of a suit brought before the court by the IPOB legal team led by Aloy Ejimakor, challenging the 2017 proscription of IPOB as a terror organisation.
“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, jointly or severally, pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU), being 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 for breaching his fundamental rights by the Respondents,” Justice A. O Onovo, ordered.
The court, also, declared the proscription and designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization by the Federal Government and the South East Governors as illegal.
In his ruling on the suit marked E/20/2023, Justice A. O Onovo, announced 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,” was unlawful.
On his part, Ejimakor, in a Release 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 based on 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.”
The release reads: “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 based on ethnicity.
“In a well-considered judgment that lasted for over three hours, the High Court (coram Justice A.O. Onovo) granted the following Reliefs: ‘that self-determination is not a crime and thus cannot be used as a basis to arrest, detain and prosecute the Applicant, MAZI NNAMDI KANU.
“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, jointly or severally, pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU), being 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.”