The Federal High Court in Abuja had, on
August 20, made an order proscribing the group upon an ex parte
application by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).
The proscription order was published in the Federal Government’s gazette on the same day it was issued.
The US and the UK had indicated that they did not consider IPOB a terrorist group.
Malami, however, confirmed to The PUNCH on Wednesday that the foreign governments had been duly notified of the proscription of the group.
The minister also told our correspondent
that following the formal notification, the Federal Government would be
seeking a Mutual Legal Assistance from the foreign governments to cut
off the funding of the group and deal with it and its members as
terrorists.
Our correspondent gathered last week
that the Federal Ministry of Justice, through its Central Authority
Unit, had sent separate letters to all the foreign missions operating in
Nigeria.
It was learnt that the letters, with
copies of the Federal Government’s gazette, publishing the order of
Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which
proscribed IPOB, were served on a majority of the foreign missions in
Abuja on September 27.
When asked to give the identities of the
specific embassies served with the letter, a top official of the
Federal Ministry of Justice said, “Just think of any embassy you know is
operating in Nigeria, they have all been served.”
“All we did was to send copies of the
gazettes attached to the cover letters to notify them of the status of
IPOB as far as Nigeria is concerned.
“Although the proscription widely
reported in newspapers, has been published in the Federal Government’s
gazette and advertised in newspapers as ordered by the court, we had to
formalise it by notifying our foreign friends, I mean the foreign
governments, which have embassies in Nigeria; and that was exactly what
we did by sending copies of the gazette to them.”
When contacted on Saturday, spokesperson
for the US Embassy, Russell Brooks, said he could not comment on
whether or not the embassy had received such notification from Nigeria’s
Government.
He stated in a text message sent to our
correspondent, “Thanks for your inquiry, but we don’t routinely describe
government-to-government correspondence.”
Spokespersons for the embassies of the
UK, Canada and France did not respond to the text message inquiries sent
to them by our correspondent last Friday, and resent to them on
Wednesday.
Confirming the development to our
correspondent on Wednesday, Malami said the proscription of IPOB had
been formally communicated to the foreign governments.
He said a Mutual Legal Assistance request had been “generated” for the blocking of the sources of the funding of IPOB.
“They (the foreign countries) have been
communicated formally and a mutual assistance request has been generated
requesting them to deal with them (IPOB) as terrorist, block their
accounts and sources of funding, among others,” Malami said.
The Acting Chief Judge of the Federal
High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, had, on September 20, issued the
proscription order upon an ex parte application by Malami.
The PUNCH had exclusively
reported on September 26 that the Federal Government had gazetted the
proscription order as directed by the court.
The gazette, with commencement date of
September 20, 2017, reads in part, “Consequently, the general public is
hereby warned that any person or group of persons participating in any
manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the
prosecution of the collective intentions or otherwise of the said groups
will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act,
2011 (as amended) and liable to prosecution.
“This notice shall be cited as the Terrorism (Prevention) (Proscription Order) Notice, 2017.”
The Special Assistant to the President
on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, had told our correspondent that
the Federal Government would write to the foreign embassies in Nigeria
about the proscription of IPOB.
Foreign govts won’t recognise FG’s letter –IPOB lawyer
In his reaction on Wednesday, however,
Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lawyer for proscribed group and Nnamdi Kanu, its
leader, said the international community had been notified that the
proscription order issued against IPOB was being challenged in court.
He said the group’s motion had been slated for hearing before Justice Kafarati on October 23.
Ejiofor stated, “The fact is that each
foreign country has its own laws that govern its state. Before now,
America has told Nigeria that IPOB is not seen as a terrorist
organisation.
“So, as far as we are concerned, once
the countries are not satisfied with the claim that IPOB is a terrorist
organisation, the letters being written by the Ministry of Justice does
not have the force of law and will not be given effect by the
international community.
“The international community knows that
the proscription of IPOB and designating it as a terrorist organisation
has political undertone. So they will not give such letter any
recognition.
“It is also important to state that we
have filed our application to vacate the proscription order and the
hearing is coming up on October 23.”
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