- The Nigerian Bar Association vice president, Monday Ubani, says he and others were right to have kicked against army's declaration against IPOB
- Ubani lamented why the government would first proscribe IPOB before rushing to the court
- The NBA chief also revealed the areas through which the group can argue its case against the government
The second vice president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, has reacted to the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Ubani said the ruling showed that he and some other Nigerians were right after all when they argued that the Nigerian army does not have the power to declare IPOB a terrorist group.
He however argued that the challenge before Nigeria in relation to the ruling is the fact that IPOB is not a registered entity in Nigeria.
READ ALSO: IPOB protests as court declares group a terrorist organisation
“The ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday shows that some of us were right when we said that the Nigerian military was wrong to have pronounced IPOB a terrorist organisation without following due process.
“It also showed that we were right when we told the south-east governors that they have no right under the law to proscribe IPOB.
“The proscription of any organization as stipulated by law is through a judicial process,” Ubani said in a statement to NAIJ.com on Thursday, September 21.
He said it was lamentable that the government had already proscribed the group before rushing to the court to seek a ruling.
“The issue now is if you say you have proscribed an organisation and that organisation is not registered in law, there is a problem. Our laws stipulate that only a juristic person can be sued.
“I believe IPOB is not registered under our laws. So there is a problem because the court has just proscribed an organsation that is not registered under our laws.
“If you take a look at the court order, it says IPOB, whereas there is no entity known as IPOB under our laws…This is clearly a complex situation.
“I think what IPOB has to do now is to proceed to the court to challenge the order.
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“Even if, assuming without conceding that IPOB was properly registered under our law, does it qualify to be labelled a terrorist organisation based on our laws and arguments advanced by the Attorney-General?
“As it stands today, IPOB by way of the Federal High Court order, remains a terrorist organization but that order can be challenged and set aside,” Ubani argued.
NAIJ.com also earlier reported that the British government said its refusal to shut down Radio Biafra, an arm of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is not deliberate, but that it has not received any request to that effect.
The United Kingdom said there was no request from the Nigerian government to have the radio shut down.
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Source: Naij.com
ROSY CREST
Thursday, 21 September 2017