A member of the IPOB legal team Ifeanyi Ejiofor says he was not part of the legal battle that led to last week’s judgment which affirmed the secessionist group as a terrorist organisation.
The lawyer stated his position in a statement he issued to journalists on Sunday., blaming Aloy Ejimakor and other IPOB lawyers for the outcome of the case.
The magazine reported that a three man panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the nation’s capital affirmed the 2018 judgment by a high court declaring IPOB as a terrorist group.
The appellate court said in the judgment that it reached the decision considering that IPOB posed security threat to the country and a danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence.
However, Ejiofor said he was not part of the legal team decision to appeal the High court judgment, blaming other lawyers for what he described a shoddy representation at the Court of Appeal.
He stressed that he had made his position on the issue known to Ejimakor and other lawyers, wondering why his name was listed among the lawyers who defended that case at the Appeal Court.
He said Ejimakor and co should be held responsible for their woeful performance at the appellate court, saying he was not part of the team that prepared the Brief challenging the High court judgment at the higher court, adding that the case had been taken “over from me by Machukwu Ume SAN and Aloy Ejimakor, in 2022.”
According to him, “My attention has been drawn to a misleading tweet by Aloy Ejimakor, which seeks to misrepresent facts and mischievously associate my name with the recent concluded Appeal on IPOB proscription, which judgment was handed down on the 30th day of January 2025.”
He accused Ejimakor of ‘totally’ messing up the case after they took it over from him by including “additional grounds of appeal the basis of which I am not in a position to explain,” which may have led to Court of Appeal decision.
“When their gimmicks became obvious that they were routing towards taking over the Appeal, I specifically but respectfully requested the learned Senior Advocate leading them, not to include my name on any processes they are filing, and clearly informed him that I have respectfully taken a bow.”
He added, “The records are clear – Aloy Ejimakor, who is now attempting to cause mischief by deceptively including my name in their woeful outing on Appeal, has consistently provided updates on the progress of the Appeal when they were effectively prosecuting it, without ever mentioning me.
“It is therefore suspicious that he now seeks to involve me after the Appeal’s dismissal, by publishing a document wherein my name curiously appears in the list of those who represented the Appellant.
“As the primary force behind taking over the Appeal, Aloy Ejimakor and his team are fully responsible for its outcome. He should be held accountable for details of what happened in their case on Appeal, what led to their unsuccessful Appeal, rather than dragging my name into his failed legal outing. I urge him to refrain from associating me with his missteps and to take responsibility for his actions.”
Few days before the court of Appeal judgment, the magazine reported that its leader, Maxi Nnamdi Kanu sued the Nigerian Police Force for N20 billion for describing IPOB as a terrorist organisation
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