Lawyer Aloy Ejimakor has issued a stark warning to President Bola Tinubu and politicians in the Southeast region, stating that their prospects in the 2027 general elections will be ruined if his client, Nnamdi Kanu, is not released from prison. Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted for terrorism and treasonable felony.
Ejimakor's Warning on Social Media
In a post on X, Ejimakor wrote, “Southeast politicians, aspiring to contest the 2027 elections should bear this in mind: If MAZI NNAMDI KANU is not freed in the near term, it will ruin your chances in the 2027 elections. Don’t ask me how. The same fate awaits President Tinubu, because SE will remember.”
Background on IPOB Proscription
Ejimakor has previously argued that the proscription of IPOB as a terrorist group in 2017 was not a genuine national security measure but a politically motivated tool to suppress legitimate political dissent by the Igbo people. He contends that it criminalises an entire ethnic group’s political expression. In an opinion piece, Ejimakor highlighted that international bodies, Nigerian courts, and even the US and UK have repeatedly flagged the terror tag on IPOB as disproportionate, unlawful, and discriminatory.
International Reactions
Ejimakor recalled that on October 1, 2020, multiple UN Special Rapporteurs sent an official communication to the Nigerian government urging it to “reconsider the proscription of IPOB as a terrorist group” and explicitly warned that “proscription should not be used as a means to quell legitimate political opinion and expression, nor to prevent individuals from exercising their rights of peaceful assembly and of association.” The rapporteurs further stated: “We are concerned that these growing restrictions… may [reflect] a growing climate of intolerance towards the Igbo and Christian minorities…”
Ejimakor noted that this was built on earlier findings by former Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard in her end-of-visit statement on September 2, 2019. In Opinion No. 25/2022 (published July 2022), the UN Human Rights Council examined the case of IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and declared his detention arbitrary, citing his rendition as tied directly to his leadership of IPOB. The UN Council demanded his unconditional release and compensation, underscoring that criminalising membership in IPOB violates international standards on freedom of association and expression.
African Commission and Nigerian Court Rulings
Ejimakor recalled that on March 18, 2018, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) issued provisional measures in Communication 680/17 (Nnamdi Kanu & IPOB v. Federal Republic of Nigeria). It explicitly called on Nigeria to “rescind its decision branding IPOB and its members as terrorists” and “not to take any further action so as to avoid irreparable damage to the Victim, IPOB and its members.”
He also referenced a ruling on October 26, 2023, in Suit No. E/20/2023 before Justice A.O. Onovo of the Enugu State High Court, which declared the 2017 proscription of IPOB “illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.” The court awarded N8 billion in damages to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and ordered a public apology. Crucially, the court ruled that the proscription and its enforcement violate Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. Ejimakor argued that this judgment stands as binding authority exposing the proscription’s true intent: collective punishment of Igbos for daring to seek a referendum.
US and UK Positions
Ejimakor pointed out that neither the United States nor the United Kingdom has ever designated IPOB a terrorist organisation. “Nigeria lobbied both governments to do so internationally and both refused,” he said. “The UK applies a ‘rigorous, evidence-based approach’ and concluded IPOB ‘does not meet the legal criteria to be banned under UK law’. The US has similarly declined, with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) warning in a 10 February 2022 analysis that designating IPOB would be a ‘mistake that risks causing a massive human rights crisis’.”
Call for De-proscription
Ejimakor stated that from the foregoing, the evidence is irrefutable and compelling – the terror tag on IPOB is not a genuine security policy, but a thinly-veiled ethnic discrimination aimed at Igbos, and it has enabled extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, and a climate of fear, while legitimate political agitation is crushed. “De-proscription is not clemency; it is justice. It restores constitutional equality, complies with binding international opinions, and ends the weaponisation of anti-terror laws against one ethnic group. Nigeria’s government must act now to repeal the proscription, release those held solely for IPOB affiliation, and engage in genuine dialogue,” he said.
