'Nigeria wants to crush Biafran identity': Lawyer condemns 20-year jail term for IPOB membership

Paul Okechukwu, 48, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Justice Hauwa Yilwa of the Abuja Federal High Court for belonging to IPOB, a group proscribed in Nigeria. Lawyer Christopher Chidera condemned the ruling as an abuse of judicial power intended to criminalise Biafran political identity, and challenged the validity of the offence. He says IPOB’s proscription followed an ex parte administrative process and notes that Justice Binta Nyako ruled in 2017 that IPOB was not an unlawful society. Chidera argues that the proscription does not prove an individual defendant’s guilt and cites procedural rules and Nigeria’s constitution.