The proscription of the activities of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra
(IPOB) in the South East by the South East Governors Forum, has drawn
the ire of some legal practitioners, who say the governors lack the
locus standi to do so.
Conversely, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and some legal
practitioners are in tune with the governor’s decision, saying it was
necessitated by the need to stop further killings and destruction of
property by soldiers in the zone.
After a meeting of the governors with South-East members of the
National Assembly and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo socio-political
organisation, chairman of the forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David
Umahi, in a six-point communiqué, announced the proscription of IPOB and
its activities.
But Chris Okeke, a lawyer said the governors do not have the powers
to proscribe the activities of IPOB as, “the constitution recognises the
right to choice of association. So, it doesn’t depend on what the
governors do, or what they don’t do. It doesn’t even lie with the
National Assembly or Mr. President. That you don’t like the name of my
organisation, or the face of my organisation is neither here nor there.
“The military are not even making sense in declaring IPOB a terrorist
organisation because they do not have the powers to do so. If the
military is suspicious of IPOB’s activities, it should have approached
the court through appropriate channel to seek such declaration.
“If it had done so, it cannot still go ahead to make a declaration at
the same time because that would amount to embarking on self-help. In
Ojukwu Vs the Governor of Lagos State, the Supreme Court had made it
clear that you cannot talk about judicial process and at the same time
embark on self-help. Those two don’t go together. It is either you
subject yourself to judicial process or not.”
No comments:
Post a comment