[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Federal High Court in Abuja has given judicial backing to the executive order of President Muhammadu Buhari, outlawing the Indigenous People of Biafra and its activities in every part of Nigeria.The Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, granted the order proscribing the group on Wednesday.It declared that the activities of the group constituted an act of terrorism and illegality.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), with the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata, and some other lawyers from the ministry appeared before Justice Kafarati for the Federal Government.The AGF, argued the ex parte motion in which IPOB was joined as a respondent inside the chamber of the judge.
The Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013, under which the Federal Government’s ex parte motion was brought, permits the judge to choose to hear it inside the chamber.Malami and Apata arrived at the courtroom on the fifth floor of the Federal High Court complex in Abuja at about 12.15pm on Wednesday.The duo were immediately led to the judge’s chamber where the proceedings lasted about an hour.
A copy of the court’s enrolled order, sighted by Grassroots Publishers online, on Wednesday, declared that the activities of the group in any part of Nigeria, especially in the South -East and South-South regions of Nigeria “amount to acts of terrorism and illegality”.It also restrained “any person or group of persons” from participating in any form of the activities involving or “concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise” of the group.
