According to the lawyer, the group has not committed any crime in demanding self-determination as it is a way to create new countries.
Aloy and Kanu
Aloy Ejimakor has stated that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a terrorist organisation.
Ejimakor is one of the lawyers representing, Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader.
He asked the Federal Government to immediately de-proscribe the group.
In a post via his Twitter handle on Sunday, Ejimakor stated that IPOB is neither a terrorist nor a violent group, adding that the Biafra group has fixed addresses across the world.
According to the lawyer, the group has not committed any crime in demanding self-determination as it is a way to create new countries.
He wrote: “The #IPOB I defend is NOT a terrorist group. It’s also NOT a violent group.
“It’s not a crime to desire a separate country. That’s how new nations are created. Terrorist groups don’t have fixed & open addresses. IPOB has fixed & open addresses in many countries of the world.”
In a related development, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has accused IPOB of being responsible for the violent attacks in the South East.
In a submission by its National Publicity Secretary, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, NEF said that the North won’t be forced to support a presidential candidate from the region because of the violence.
While calling on IPOB to put an end to the violence, the NEF spokesperson argued that secession is not in the best interest of any region in Nigeria as the country is better together.
He pointed out that if the President Muhammadu Buhari government is unable to put an end to the crisis, the next government will do so.
“We don’t want organized violence or threat to produce the president of Nigeria. Secession is a bad option for South East. It is not in the best interest of this country or anybody.
“Why should the Federal Government allow IPOB to strangulate five South-East states? If this administration do not have the capacity and willingness to ask this question, to deal with this problem, then the next administration should do so.”
Baba-Ahmed made the submission in an interview with Daily Sun on the sideline of the fourth Mallam Maitama Sule Leadership Lecture at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State where he spoke on a paper titled “The President we want.”