‘We Are Not Terrorists’: IPOB Rejects 2017 Proscription, Urges Global Support for Biafran Self-Determination

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has renewed its demand for international intervention, calling the group’s 2017 proscription by the Nigerian government a politically motivated attempt to silence its peaceful push for self-determination.

In a statement released Friday by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group argued that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration weaponized the judiciary and military to suppress lawful advocacy.

“For eight years, Nigeria has criminalised a peaceful self-determination movement without presenting a single act of terrorism,” the statement read.

IPOB denounced the legal and military actions taken against it as acts of persecution, citing the military raid on September 14, 2017, on the residence of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in Afaraukwu, Abia State. According to IPOB, the raid resulted in the deaths of 28 unarmed civilians and was a failed attempt to assassinate Kanu.

Days after the raid, the South-East Governors’ Forum, led at the time by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, declared IPOB banned in the region. IPOB maintains that the ban lacked legal backing and was driven by political interests.

Subsequently, on September 20, 2017, the Nigerian government secured an ex parte order from the Federal High Court in Abuja, declaring IPOB a terrorist organization. Emma Powerful insisted that the order, issued by Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati, violated Nigeria’s Constitution and the Terrorism Prevention Act.

“The government failed to follow due process, including obtaining presidential approval, as required by Section 2(1) of the Terrorism Prevention Act. This ruling also denied IPOB the right to fair hearing under Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution,” IPOB stated.

The group listed several violations of international human rights law in the government’s actions, including Section 36 and 40 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution rights to fair hearing and freedom of association; Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights right to self-determination; Articles 1, 9, and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protection of liberty, assembly, and political participation; and Section 76 of the 2022 Terrorism Prevention Act which requires the principle of double criminality in cross-border offences.

Emma Powerful pointed to the 2023 ruling by the Enugu High Court, which declared IPOB’s proscription unconstitutional, as further evidence of the Nigerian government’s overreach. However, he said the ruling is now before the Supreme Court for final determination.

IPOB has urged foreign governments, international institutions, and global human rights organizations to take a stand by rejecting what it described as the “illegal and politically motivated” proscription, holding Nigerian officials accountable for “extrajudicial killings and judicial abuse,” supporting a peaceful solution through a referendum under international law.

The group reaffirmed its commitment to non-violence and insisted its campaign remains rooted in the legal frameworks of the African Charter and ICCPR.

Founded in 2012 by Nnamdi Kanu, a British-Nigerian political activist, IPOB is the most prominent movement advocating for the creation of an independent Biafran state. Its calls echo the legacy of the 1967–1970 Biafran War, initiated by late Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Despite the Nigerian government’s accusations that IPOB incites unrest, the group maintains that its efforts are peaceful, lawful, and necessary for the political and cultural survival of the Igbo people.