The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) on Friday said the Court of Appeal’s affirmation of the Indigenous People of Biafra/Eastern Security Network (IPOB-ESN) as a terrorists’ group is a morale booster that will motivate it to crush the separatist group.
Outgoing Director of Defence Media Operations (DDMOs), Major General Edward Buba, said the Appeal Court ruling was indeed a welcome development that will boost the morale of frontline troops to expedite action in destroying and dismantling the terror group wherever they may be hiding.
Major General Buba told Daily Trust: “The armed forces applauds the recent Appeal Court Ruling affirming the earlier declaration of IPOB as a terrorists’ group.
“The ruling is indeed a welcomed development that further motivates troops to expedite action in destroying and dismantling the IPOB terror group and their ESN cohorts.”
In an unanimous decision on Thursday, the Court of Appeal’s three-member panel headed by Justice Hamma Barka, affirmed the proscription of IPOB and its designation as a terrorist organisation.
IPOB is a group leading separatist group agitating for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South East region and some parts of South-South Nigeria.
The federal government, under the immediate-past President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2017, proscribed the separatist group, a Federal High Court in Abuja formalised the proscription and tagged it a terrorist organisation.
The group and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, had been challenging the proscription of the group in different courts, and a State High Court in Enugu nullified the proscription and the designation as a terrorist group in October 2023.
