The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called for the release of scores of Igbo people it says are being held unlawfully in Nigerian correctional facilities, arguing that the recent court-ordered release of four men after nearly four years in Department of State Services (DSS) custody highlights ongoing persecution.
In a statement issued by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group said the freeing of the four men should not be seen as resolving wider concerns over the detention of its members and other Igbo people linked to the Biafran agitation.
IPOB said its legal team had identified 83 people allegedly transferred from military custody at Wawa Barracks in Kainji, Niger State, to correctional centres in Kuje, Keffi and Suleja. The group claimed its lawyers had already submitted the names of legal representatives for those detainees to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The organisation further alleged that others remain in detention, with some serving life sentences in cases connected to alleged membership of IPOB. It described the situation as an abuse of state power, insisting that political association or alleged membership of the group should not, by itself, justify imprisonment without proof of specific criminal offences.
IPOB also challenged the legal basis of its proscription. It argued that the process was carried out through a civil ex parte proceeding and lacked the presidential approval required under Section 2(1)(c) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013. The group maintained that the signature of a Chief of Staff could not replace the express presidential approval demanded by the law.
Citing a judgment in MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd v. FCCPC involving Justice James Omotosho, IPOB said statutory requirements must be applied consistently. It also referred to what it described as a subsisting inter partes ruling that IPOB is not an unlawful society, and noted that an appeal on the organisation’s status and the legality of its proscription is pending before the Supreme Court.
The group insisted that no one should be sentenced to life imprisonment solely on the basis of alleged membership, and that prosecutors must prove specific offences against each defendant.
IPOB called on the Federal Government to account for the 83 people it identified in the Keffi, Suleja and Kuje facilities, as well as others it says are held in connection with the Biafran agitation. It also urged the United Nations, the United States government and the European Union to intervene over what it termed violations of the rights of detained Biafrans.
“The release of the four is not the end of the matter. It is an indictment of the system that kept them imprisoned for four years,” the statement said.
The group demanded the release of all those it considers unlawfully detained and an end to the criminalisation of membership of the organisation.
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