The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been dissolved and struck off as a registered company in the United Kingdom.
IPOB was founded in 2014 by Nnamdi Kanu. He also established it as a corporation in the United Kingdom.
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Kanu, who is the leader of IPOB and a UK citizen, has been detained by the Nigerian government since June 2021 when he was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria from Kenya.
In October, a three-member panel of the appeal court led by Justice Hanatu Sankey, held that the Federal Government violated the Terrorism Act and breached the rights of Kanu when he was forcefully brought back to the country.
The court, therefore, discharged Kanu of the terrorism allegation. However, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said Kanu was only discharged but not acquitted.
The company was dissolved on September 13, 2022, after 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,” a notice sent to IPOB on June 28, 2022, read.
Earlier in the year, the UK barred IPOB, the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra and other Biafran groups from participating in its asylum programme.
The British government noted that IPOB had been proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government and that members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network – have reportedly committed human rights violations.