The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the decision to label the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organization.
The court, in a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel led by Justice Hamma Barka, supported the Federal High Court’s 2017 judgment that banned the group.
The court agreed that the Federal Government acted within the law due to the threat IPOB posed to national security.
The court dismissed IPOB’s appeal, stating it lacked merit.
The IPOB’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Chukwuma-Machukwu Umeh, had argued that the proscription was unlawful and misrepresented facts, claiming it unjustly labeled millions of Igbo Nigerians as terrorists.
Despite this, the appeal was rejected, reinforcing the Federal High Court’s earlier ruling that prohibited IPOB’s activities, especially in the South-East and South-South regions.
