In a landmark decision reached by the Biafrans in the Suit No FHC/EN/CS/103/2019 now in the Court of Appeal as Case No CA/E/96/2020, the Biafrans have rejected the use of the name of IPOB and adopted the name of MOBIN (Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria) for their identity as they struggle for self-determination by the rule of law and political diplomacy.
This decision was reached in their General Meeting held on Saturday 4th October 2025 at Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria, after the Chairman of MOBIN and Founder and Vision Bearer of IPOB, Dr. Emeka Chigozie Emekesiri (Barrister & Solicitor), explained that the organization known as IPOB has been proscribed by the Nigerian Government and has become an unlawful organization under the Nigerian Law.
He said that the question was not whether IPOB was rightly or wrongly proscribed but the fact that it has been proscribed under the Nigerian law and the Proscription Order of the Court has not been set aside or cancelled on appeal.
He likened IPOB to a vehicle he designed for self-determination by the rule of law and political diplomacy, but it was hijacked by Nnamdi Kanu who snatched the vehicle and drove it recklessly and caused fatal accidents that damaged the vehicle beyond repair and caused the death of some of his passengers. In his speech, he stated as follows:
“Although I am the Founder and Vision Bearer of the body of persons known as Indigenous People of Biafra (abbreviated to IPOB), I did not make myself the leader but constituted the Elders of Biafraland into a Governing Council called Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra to oversee and manage the affairs of the organization of which the Leader was His Royal Majesty, The Honourable Justice Eze Ozobu OFR (now deceased); the Deputy Leader was Dr Dozie Ikedife, OON, Ikenga Nnewi (now deceased); the Secretary General was Col. Joe Achuzia (now deceased), and other elders.
I took the post of Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra and Legal Adviser to the Council of Elders and filed the Suit No FHC/OW/CS/102/2012 in the Federal High Court Owerri where we started the case between Biafra and Nigeria in 2012.
From Left to Right: HRM Hon Justice Eze Ozobu OFR, Col Joe Achzia, Barr Emeka Emekesiri, Chief Barr Debe Odumegwu Ojukwu, and Dr Dozie Ikedife (Ikenga OON, Nnewi)
We brought the case in a representative capacity by our Human Rights Organization called Bilie Human Rights Initiative (BHRI). The Title of the Case was Bilie Human Rights Initiative Representing Indigenous People of Biafra v Federal Republic of Nigeria and Attorney General of the Federation.
Thus, the legal entity before the Court known to law was the Human Rights Organization. The Biafrans were protected by the Human Rights Organization.
We established our Office of Indigenous People of Biafra at 90 Wetheral Road Owerri Imo State where the Defendants (the Federal Government and Attorney General of the Federation) were serving us with their Statement of Defence and Motion papers. I was flying from London to Nigeria to do the case at the Federal High Court Owerri at my own expense.
Indigenous People of Biafra posing for a photograph in front of their Office at 90 Wetheral Road, Owerri, Imo State, in 2012.
Everything was going on well smoothly until Nnamdi Kanu who left Uwazuruike’s MASSOB and joined us caused a terrible setback to our movement. They were five persons in London that joined us from MASSOB including Uche Mefor, Nwada Amarachi, Chukwuma Egemba, Nnamdi Kanu, and Sam Umeh.
We put Nnamdi Kanu in charge of our Media Department, an Internet Radio Station known as Radio Biafra. He started making incendiary broadcasts inciting violence and abusing and insulting all the Elders of Igboland and all Authorities including the Nigerian Government and the British Government.
For this reason, the Elders excommunicated Nnamdi Kanu on 12 May 2014. Instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness, he started his own faction of IPOB and announced on the Radio that he had dissolved the Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra and had become the Founder and Leader of IPOB.
He went into some confrontations with the Nigerian Government which led to the killing of some of his followers and his subsequent arrest and prosecution. In this confrontation, the Federal Government of Nigeria obtained an Order of the Court proscribing IPOB as a Terrorist Organization.
This Proscription Order has affected all of us as the Nigerian Authorities, Police and Army, pretend not to know the difference between the IPOB of Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB of the Elders.
Some people have said that the Federal Government was not right in proscribing IPOB as a Terrorist Organization because Indigenous People of Biafra is a nation. They question how the whole Igbo Race could be tagged as Terrorists.
These people do not understand that what Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor registered in the UK is a limited liability company known as Indigenous People of Biafra Ltd.
Perhaps, only lawyers will understand the difference between a limited liability organization and an unincorporated entity. This is different from the amorphous entity in Court suing in a Representative Capacity by Bilie Human Rights Initiative. We were admitted into the ECOSOC of the United Nations in 2016 with two seats in New York and Vienna Austria. We have attended several meetings of the United Nations ECOSOC in New York.
The Federal Government Authorities now see IPOB as a terrorist organization, and it is not wise for our members to continue with that name. The issue is not whether the proscription of IPOB was rightly or wrongly done, but the fact that there is a Proscription Order made against IPOB which has not been set aside or cancelled.
Therefore, the Biafrans under our Movement shall be at risk if they identify themselves as members of IPOB. The fact that I am described as the IPOB Founder and Vision Bearer is history that cannot be erased. It is written in my Book, “Biafra or Nigerian Presidency- What the Ibos Want”, published in London in 2012.
I manufactured the vehicle that was snatched by Nnamdi Kanu and damaged beyond repair. I have decided to manufacture another brand-new vehicle to continue the journey to our destination. The new vehicle is MOBIN.
We are Nigerians by citizenship but Biafrans by indigenous identity just as there are Oduduwa People and Arewa People in Nigeria. Therefore, considering that our Movement is called Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria (MOBIN), our Customary Government shall now be known as Customary Government of Biafrans in Nigeria (CGBN).
We shall continue our struggle from where the IPOB vehicle was hijacked and damaged beyond repair. Already our papers are in the Court of Appeal and the National Assembly seeking to restructure Nigeria by devolution of power to the Regions so that every Region would govern itself and develop at its own pace just as it is in the United Kingdom of Great Britain which has four nations in one country namely: Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland.
The introduction of violence into the struggle has destroyed Igboland. We must do everything necessary to restore the peace and dignity of Igboland. Many people have said that it was the criminals who infiltrated the IPOB that caused the atrocities in Igboland. It may be true, but the fact is that somebody created the loophole that allowed criminals to infiltrate and cause havoc in the name of IPOB.
Nnamdi Kanu started the enforcement of sit-at-home order but later cancelled it when some of his members and supporters advised him to stop it. Unfortunately, some of his members disobeyed him and refused to stop, and some criminals joined in the madness of sit-at-home enforcement, killing and maiming anybody that comes out on Mondays.
Now, the South-East Region of Nigeria has been destroyed. Many have run away and relocated to the North and West and overseas. We must not run away but must do everything necessary to restore the peace and dignity of Igbo Nation.” Barr Emekesiri concluded.
Regarding the judicial immunity enjoyed by the Biafrans who are following the rule of law and political diplomacy, one of the leaders and a lawyer who attended the meeting, Ben Obide Esq., narrated how the Chairman sent him to the North with the former President of BHRI, Elder Mike Umoren, to address the Biafrans in 2017 when the Arewa Youths issued a Quit Notice to all Igbo People to leave the North not later than October 1, 2017.
Ben Obide narrated his experience with the DSS in Jos. Upon their arrival in Jos, they were resting in their room with some drinks when two DSS Police Officers came into the hotel room and told them that the Police had been monitoring them since their arrival in the North. The Police Officers asked them what their mission was in the North. Elder Mike Umoren asked Ben Obide to address the Police.
Ben Obide told DSS Policemen that they had come for two reasons, namely, to address the Biafrans living in the North regarding the Quit Notice given to them by the Arewa People so that they would not panic but remain calm, and to give the Biafrans the report of the last hearing in the Federal High Court Owerri in the case between Biafra and Nigeria.
He opened his box and showed the court documents to the DSS Police and the Statement of Defence from the Federal Government and Attorney General who were the Defendants in the case. He told them that those court documents were his Judicial Immunity from any harassment by the Nigerian Authorities because both parties are still in Court.
The Police Officers were disarmed and asked to join them in their drinks. They became friends and exchanged names and phone numbers with the Police Officers.
Ben Obide emphasised that these DSS Policemen were the same DSS that arrested Nnamdi Kanu but could not arrest him because of the judicial immunity enjoyed by the Biafrans under the leadership of Barr. Emeka Emekesiri who is using the rule of law and political diplomacy.
He explained that when two parties are in Court over any dispute, no party can harass, arrest, molest, or disturb the other party until the case is over. This is why the Nigerian Police or Army do not disturb all the Biafrans who are following Barr. Emeka Emekesiri in the legal method of self-determination. Ben Obide advised all the Biafrans to embrace the legal methodology of self-determination as championed by MOBIN and shun violence and anarchy.