Nigerian Government has formally informed the governments of the United States, US, United Kingdom, UK, and other foreign countries of its decision to declare the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as a terrorist organisation.
An Abuja Federal High Court in Abuja had, on August 20, proscribed IPOB, following a motion filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).
The court had also ordered that the proscription be published in the Federal Government’s gazette which was done. Against this backdrop, both the US and UK had faulted the declaration, insisting that the group was not a terrorist organisation.
Speaking with Punch, on Wednesday, Malami said some foreign countries have been duly notified. Malami disclosed that the Federal Government would be seeking a Mutual Legal Assistance from the foreign governments to stop those funding the group and deal with IPOB members as terrorists.
The report said Federal Ministry of Justice, through its Central Authority Unit, had sent separate letters to all the foreign missions operating in Nigeria.
According to Malami, “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.”
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