The court additionally decreed that the respondents must issue an official apology to Kanu for the violation of his fundamental rights.
“Ordered the Respondents, jointly or severally, to issue official Letter(s) of Apology to the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU) for the infringement of his said fundamental rights; and publication of said Letter(s) of Apology in three (3) national dailies.
“Ordered the Respondents to, jointly or severally, pay the sum of N8,000,000,000.00 (Eight Billion Naira) to the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU), being monetary damages claimed by the Applicant against the Respondents jointly and severally for the physical, mental, emotional, psychological, property and other damages suffered by the Applicant as a result of the infringements of his fundamental rights by the Respondents”, Justice A. O Onovo, said.
Similarly, the court declared as unconstitutional, the proscription and designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization by the Federal Government and the South East Governors.
The ruling followed a legal action initiated by the IPOB legal team, headed by Aloy Ejimakor, which contested the 2017 designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization.
Justice A. O Onovo, in delivering the judgment for the case bearing the mark E/20/2023, stated, “the practical application of the Terrorism Prevention Act and the executive or administrative action of the Respondents (Southeast Governors Forum and the Federal Government) which directly led to the proscription of IPOB and its listing as a terrorist group,” was deemed unconstitutional.
The Court according to a release by Ejimakor further held that “IPOB being comprised of citizens of Nigeria of the Igbo and other Eastern Nigerian ethnic groups, professing the political opinion of self-determination and the consequent arrest, detention and prosecution of the Applicant (MAZI NNAMDI KANU) as a member/leader of said IPOB is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the Applicant’s fundamental right not to be subjected to any disabilities or restrictions based on his ethnicity as enshrined and guaranteed under Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and his fundamental rights as enshrined under Articles 2,3,19 &20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Enforcement and Ratification) Act.”
