UK Government Descends On Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB ; De-Registers, Dismisses It As An Organisation 

By Charles Igbo

This is not the best of times for the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. While he is in custody in Nigeria, being prosecuted in a law Court by the Federal Government over alleged terrorism and treasonable felony, the United Kingdom’s  Government has deregistered the Organisation which he founded.

IPOB, Kanu’s baby, has been dissolved by the UK Government. It was not only dissolved, it has been struck off as a registered Organisation in the United Kingdom.

Kanu founded IPOB in 2014, and registered it as a Corporation in the United Kingdom. He is a citizen of both Nigeria and Britain.

The implication is that IPOB can no longer operate in the UK as an Organisation. All its assets have been forfeited to the Crown.

IPOB Organisation as a company was dissolved on September 13, 2022 after a number of warnings.

“The Registrar of Companies give notice that, unless cause is shown to the contrary, the company will be struck off and dissolved not less than 2 months from the date shown above.

“Upon company’s dissolution, all property and rights vested, or held in trust for the company are deemed to be bona vacantia, and will belong to the Crown,”  reads a June 28 , 2022 notice sent to IPOB.

Its dissolution is allegedly a combination of a couple of factors.

The UK Government had, in early 2022,  barred IPOB, the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, and other Biafran groups from participating in its asylum programme.

In banning IPOB, the British Government pointed out that IPOB had been proscribed as a terrorist group by the Federal  Government of Nigeria, with the allegation that members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network, ESN, have been involved in committing human rights violations.

Persons who commit human rights violations, said the UK Government, should  not be granted asylum.

In March 2021, the UK Visas and Immigration  released new guidelines on how to consider and grant asylum applications to IPOB members.

Titled Country Policy and Information Note Nigeria: Biafran secessionist groups, the UKVI, a division of the Home Office, directed its decision-makers to consider if a person “who actively and openly supports IPOB is likely to be at risk of arrest and detention, and ill-treatment which is likely to amount to persecution.’’

But  in an update on its website on May 3, titled, ‘Country policy and information note: Separatist groups in the South-East, Nigeria,’ the UKVI said, “IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government, and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network (created in December 2020) – have reportedly committed human rights violations in Nigeria and various media articles.

“MASSOB has been banned but is not a proscribed terrorist group in Nigeria. It too has reportedly been involved in violent clashes with the authorities.”

But the British High Commission in Abuja  denied labelling IPOB a terrorist group in a statement it issued.

Said the statement: “We are aware of inaccurate reporting circulating in the media and online that the UK Government has added the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the UK’s list of terrorist groups or organisations banned under UK law.”

“These reports are untrue. The ‘Indigenous People of Biafra’ (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the UK.

“The inaccurate reporting relates to the 13 April 2022 publication by the UK Government of a revised Country Policy and Information note (CPIN) on separatist groups in SE Nigeria, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). CPINs provide country of origin information (COI) and analysis of COI for use by UK Government decision-makers handling particular types of protection and human rights claims.

“All asylum and human rights claims made in the UK are considered on their individual facts in accordance with our obligations under the UN Refugee Convention.”

It is not yet known if IPOB will appeal the deregistration. But about a week ago, IPOB had lamented that the UK Government was on the verge of deporting Kanu’s Cook to Nigeria. They said he is likely to be arrested on arrival, and appealed to the British Government to reconsider its decision.

Kanu’s wife and children live in the United Kingdom.

In June 2021, Kanu was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria from Kenya, and has been in custody since then. He is being prosecuted by an Abuja Federal High Court.

But in October 2022, a three man Panel of the Court of Appeal, slammed the Federal Government for the illegal manner Kanu was brought back to Nigeria. It discharged and acquitted Kanu of all charges against him, and ordered his release from custody.

However, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, appealed the judgement, insisting that Kanu was discharged, and not acquitted, as he has other pending charges against him. Kanu’s legal team  appealed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal granted the FG’s request of denying Kanu an immediate release from custody.