…Bars members from seeking asylum
The United Kingdom (UK) government has finally accepted Nigeria’s classification of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.
Recall that following widespread killings and acts of lawlessness, the Federal government designated IPOB as a terrorist group in 2017. However, some foreign countries, including the UK, where IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, holds his passport, did not acknowledge the declaration at the time,
But, four days after the outlawed group beheaded an army couple, who were on their way to Imo State for their traditional wedding, the UK acknowledged IPOB as a terrorist organisation, directing that it should be excluded from its asylum programme.
Although the killing, which sparked nationwide outrage, was not among the atrocities of the Nnamdi Kanu-led terror group which the UK listed in its policy review document, the action was taken a few days after the murder.
Some of the acts of the terrorist group listed by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), a division of the British Home Office, were the invasion of an All Progressives Congress (APC) meeting in Enugu State, where a party chieftain was killed; an attack on an Imo Police Station where an officer was killed; killing of Anambra residents during enforcement of ‘sit-at-home’ order; killing of some policemen en route to Anambra International Airport, among others.
All these attacks happened in January 2022 alone.
Last year, UKVI released new guidelines to its decision-makers on how to consider and grant asylum applications to IPOB. However, in a fresh update published on its website three days ago, UKVI made a U-turn.
