• Igbo elders urge Tinubu to release Kanu for Buhari’s honour
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has urged the federal government to cease what it described as misleading claims about its proscription, stating that the group was not lawfully declared a terrorist or proscribed organisation under Nigerian or international law.

In a statement issued by its Directorate of Legal Affairs and made available by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB maintained that the 2017 ex parte order obtained by the government was not the result of a full trial and did not amount to a conviction.

“The ex parte order was issued without prior notice to IPOB, without presentation of evidence, and without an opportunity for defence,” the group said. “This falls short of the requirements of Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees the right to a fair hearing.”

IPOB cautioned individuals, groups, and media outlets against publicly referring to it as a terrorist organisation without a valid court ruling, warning that such actions may prompt legal redress under applicable defamation and constitutional rights laws.

The group emphasised that its position has always been that no competent court has made a final and post-trial judgment proscribing it as a terrorist group, saying that it will continue to challenge the legal basis of the ex parte order in court, including at the Supreme Court.

IPOB also stressed that it is committed to peaceful advocacy and has sought legal remedies to defend its name, unlike groups officially designated as terrorist organisations by relevant global bodies.

It also called on the media to report accurately and avoid using terms that are not legally established, noting the distinction between the terms “proscribed organisation” and “terrorist group,” which, it said, should not be used interchangeably without a legal basis.

The group urged the judiciary and government institutions to uphold the Constitution and ensure that all parties, regardless of identity or cause, are afforded the right to a fair hearing.

ALSO, the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum has called on President Bola Tinubu to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as a fitting and final tribute to the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Reacting to Buhari’s death, the elders expressed their condolences but said that the South-East was marked by exclusion, injustice, and the controversial handling of Kanu’s case during Buhari’s administration.

The Secretary General of the Forum, Prof. Charles Nwekeaku, made the call in a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday

He described the continued detention of Kanu, despite court judgments discharging him, as a symbol of unresolved grievances in the region.