From Maurice Okafor, Enugu
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo has accused the Federal Attorney General and the Nigerian judiciary of bias in their interpretation of terrorist acts in the country, stating it is a deliberate mark of parochialism for the court to still hold on to their interpretation of the Indigenous People of Biafra[IPOB] as a terrorist organization while the Fulani herdsmen who have continued to massacre armless Nigerians across many states of the federation in recent times are adjudged non terrorists.
Nwodo made the assertions while reacting to the position of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday that dismissed the application by IPOB for the court to rescind ita��s earlier declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization and ita��s proscription.
The Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Abuja, Justice Abdu Kafarati, while ruling on the application to reverse IPOB proscription filed by IPOB lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, resolved that the proscription order meted on the group on September 20,2017, was validly issued. He dismissed the contentions of IPOB lawyer who argued that IPOB as an organization with spread in several countries cannot be sued in Nigeria.
Justice Kafarati noted that an organisation registered abroad could be likened to a foreigner who could be arrested in another country where he was found to have committed a crime. The judge also held that the issuance of the proscription order by him in the chambers following an ex parte application was in accordance with the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act.
But Nwodo in his reaction through a press statement made available to The Authority accused the judge of bias and dancing to the tune of politicians. a�?It is unfortunate that our courts are allowing themselves to be used for unlawful and political ends.
IPOB has done nothing to qualify, as defined by international standards, to be called a terrorist organizationa��.
a�?Sadly the Federal Attorney General in his parochialism, unmitigated bias and calumny has not found it necessary to classify the Fulani herdsmen as terrorists in spite of their classification by the Global Terrorist Index as the fourth deadliest terrorist organization in the world.
Ohaneze frowns at this nepotism, this denigration of our judiciary and this stigmatization of our children.a�?
Ohanaeze rejects court judgement against IPOB
