The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have testified before a Court of Appeal that the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, signed the memo from Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to President Muhammadu Buhari, which was used by the Federal High Court to proscribe and declare it a terrorist organization.
The pro-Biafra group claims that Abba Kyari’s acceptance of the memo instead of Buhari’s went against the Terrorist Prevention Act’s explicit requirements that the president sign the document.
IPOB lawyers said “In fact, the decision to approve the proscription of a group or organisation as a terrorist body is one of discretion to be personally exercised by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which was regrettably delegated to the Chief of Staff contrary to well established rule against sub-delegation…That the Office of Chief of Staff to the President is not one of the offices mentioned in S. 5 (1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to which the President can delegate his powers and functions.”
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They stated the case in the revised brief of argument submitted in the appeal contesting the group’s exclusion and designation as a terrorist organization.
In particular, the appeal CA/A/214/2018 filed by Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN), the principal attorney for IPOB, challenges the Federal High Court’s Abuja division’s ruling in suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/871/2017 that proscribes and labels IPOB a terrorist organization.
IPOB claims that by outlawing the organization’s operations and designating it as a terrorist organization, the Buhari-led administration discriminated against the organisation.
It prayed the court not to “validate the unconstitutional behaviour of the respondent discriminatory act by applying for the declaration and proscription of the appellant and the President purportedly approving the same whereas their Fulani herdsmen (the 4th most deadly terrorist group in the world) who move freely with AK.47 murdering, killing indigenous people all over Nigeria and grabbing their lands were never condemned and or proscribed and whether there was even a valid approval by the President.”
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In its amended grounds of appeal, IPOB said: “The purported presidential approval as contained was simply a memo written by the Attorney General of the Federal to the President dated 15th September, 2017(Exhs. AGF 11a & 11b)(see pages 57 – 61 of the Records of Appeal) to President Muhammadu Buhari and was curiously signed by Abba Kyari, the then Chief of Staff to the president, contrary to the unambiguous provisions of the Terrorism Act which specifically provided that the approval shall be signed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Lords, a cursory look at the Memo of the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation dated 15thday of September 2017, addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the said presidential approval (EXHIBIT AGF IIA & IIB) (pages 57 – 61 of the Records of Appeal)which the trial judge relied on as constituting the mandatory president’s approval show that it was a mere memo from the Attorney General of the Federation to the President requesting for the said president’s approval as prescribed under Section 2 (1)(C) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, and not the mandatory president’s approval envisaged under the Act.
“We therefore submit that having not been signed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there was no evidence of the presidential approval before the trial court as required under Section 2 (1)(c) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013. More so, under Section 40 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011, which deals with the interpretation of words or phrases, the word “President” as used in the Act, refers and only means ‘the President’. It is equally our further submission that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 under Section 5 neither mentions nor contemplates any form of delegation to the Chief of Staff to the President as an officer to whom such crucial executive function of the president can be delegated to.”
Remember that on September 20, 2017, the Federal Government petitioned the Federal High Court through an exparte motion made in accordance with Section 2(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 to declare and proscribe IPOB as a terrorist organization, among other reliefs.
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