The UK government has dissolved and struck off the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a registered company. IPOB was founded in 2014 by Nnamdi Kanu, who is also a UK citizen and has been detained by the Nigerian government since June 2021.
The company was dissolved on September 13, 2022, after warnings from the Registrar of Companies. The UK government had previously barred IPOB and other Biafran groups from participating in its asylum program, citing human rights violations and proscription as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government.
However, the UK Visas and Immigration department has provided guidelines for considering asylum applications from IPOB members, taking into account potential risks of arrest, detention, and ill-treatment. The UK government has clarified that it does not consider IPOB a terrorist organization, but rather a separatist group with reported human rights violations.
The Nigerian government has accused IPOB of terrorism and has detained Kanu, who was extraordinarily renditioned from Kenya in 2021. A Nigerian appeal court has since discharged Kanu of terrorism allegations, but the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General has stated that he was only discharged, not acquitted.