Confusion in IPOB/MASSOB over charge on Nnamdi Kanu (Read yourself)

REBUTTALS BY THE SOLICITORS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA IN SUIT No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 AGAINST THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION ON COUNT 2 OF NNAMDI KANU’S CHARGES IN RESPECT OF MANAGING AN UNLAWFUL SOCIETY

The attention of Mekadolf Chambers has been drawn to the particulars of the offence in the Count 2 of Mr Nnamdi Kanu’s charge as published by the Sun Newspaper of 22 December 2015 in which the Attorney-General of the Federation stated as follows: “That you, Nnamdi Kanu and others, now at large, between 2012 and September 2015, at South-East geopolitical zone and the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court manage an unlawful society with more than 10 members to with: unregistered with the Corporate Affairs Commission or any other registration authority to wit: The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) thereby committed an offence which is punishable under Section 63 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004”. In our capacity as the Solicitors for Indigenous People of Biafra who sued the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation in the Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 in a representative capacity by the human rights organization called Bilie Human Rights Initiative, we deem it necessary to put the records straight for the benefit of the public without prejudice to the powers of the Court to administer justice in the case. Consequently, we respond to the publication by the Attorney-General of the Federation and clarify our clients’ position as follows:

 1. The title of the on-going Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 in the Federal High Court Owerri is “INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF BILIE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE REPRESENTING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA v FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AND THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION”. The parties have joined issues and the matter has been listed for hearing. It would have been heard on 15th Dec 2015 but the Judge was said to have gone to Abuja for a Conference. The next adjourned date is 30th March 2016. The matter was commenced in 2012 as Suit No FHC/OW/CS/102/2012 but reconstituted in 2013 as Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013. The Law Firm representing the Defendants is Prof Yemi Akinseye-George SAN & Partners while Mekadolf Chambers represents the Claimants. The Attorney-General of the Federation is fully aware that the entity known as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA is in Court with Nigeria in a representative capacity by Bilie Human Rights Initiative.

2. Section A1 of the Legal Instrument tendered in Court as Exhibit B discloses that the remnants of the Biafrans who were not consumed in the war of 1967 – 1970 between Nigeria and Biafra have associated themselves together in a body known as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA under Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 asserting that what they lost after the war was their sovereignty and not their identity as a people, and maintaining that they are Nigerians by citizenship but Biafrans by indigenous identity as defined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 with their rights protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. Since they are a non-legal entity, they could only sue or be sued in a representative capacity. This was why they sued Nigeria and the Attorney-General by Bilie Human Rights Initiative. It is a basic principle of law that a non-legal entity can only sue or be sued in a representative capacity.

3. Our clients are governed under the Nigerian Customary Law by their Council of Elders known as the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra who signed the Legal Instrument that authorised the ongoing case. The Chairman of the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra is His Royal Majesty & His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Eze Ozobu (rtd) OFR; the Deputy Chairman is Dr. Dozie Ikedife OON, JP; the Secretary-General is Brig. Gen. Joe Achuzia (rtd). These men are well known to the Defendants and need no introduction in Nigeria. Dr Ikedife was one of the delegates from the South East to the National Conference in Abuja in 2014.

 4. The entity known as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA is defined as the remnants of the Biafrans and their descendants who were not consumed in the war. The acronym, IPOB, was created by Dr Dozie Ikedife in 2013. Indigenous People of Biafra are a nation and not a pro-Biafra group founded by one man. They are a nation but not yet a nation-state, seeking to exercise their right to self-determination by due process of law. In Paragraph 1 of the Originating Summons commencing the suit, Indigenous People of Biafra are defined as the people inhabiting the three contiguous regions of the South East, parts of the South-South and parts of the Middle Belt regions of Nigeria. Our clients maintain that they are Biafrans by indigenous identity but Nigerians by citizenship just as the people of Scotland are Scottish by indigenous identity but British citizens and now seeking for independence from Britain.

5. We hereby put the Defendants and the Nigerian Press on Notice that the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA who are in court with Nigeria in Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 are not an unlawful society . Our clients are the natural human beings in Biafraland described in court as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA seeking to exercise their right to self- determination by due process of law. Therefore the Attorney-General of the Federation being a party in the ongoing suit between Biafra and Nigeria in the Federal High Court Owerri should refrain from describing our clients as an unlawful society. The Attorney-General of the Federation should make a clear distinction between the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA under the Supreme Council of Elders who are in Court as Claimants in a representative capacity in Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 and the limited liability companies registered in England as Indigenous People of Biafra Ltd (limited by shares) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) limited by guaranty.

 6. Our clients are an organized nation within Nigeria running a Customary Government under the Nigerian legal system and headed by their Council of Elders. They have not violated any of the Nigerian laws. They believe that self determination can be achieved by due process of law. This is why they are in the Federal High Court Owerri as Claimants with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the Defendants. The Customary Government of Indigenous People of Biafra has its Secretariat at Enugu. The Customary Government is not sovereign but provides an internal command structure for maintenance of peace and order among the people. It is similar to the Sharia Government in the North. Since the Defendants are aware that the people known as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA are in Court with the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a representative capacity by Bilie Human Rights Initiative, and that their leaders are duly disclosed in the court records, we request the Defendants to give the proper information to the public .

. Signed: Emeka Emekesri, Esq. Mekadolf Chambers Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra