* Slams N200k fine on Augustine Kanu Okoro, Kanu Nwa Kanu, 5 others for wrongful banishment

A High Court of Abia State sitting in Umuahia has declared as archaic, barbaric and inhuman, the purported banishment of Mazi Nwankwo Jacob Anige (Eze Mbiabong) and his Mbiabong people of Arochukwu extraction from their ancestral homeland.

Justice U.D Enwereji made the declaration while delivering judgment in the fundamental rights lawsuit jointly filed on February 10, 2023, by Mazi Ojim Okoro Onyemobi Akweke Ota (Eze Ezi Nde Akweke) and Mazi Nwankwo Anige, against Augustine Kanu Okoro and six other persons.

The six others are listed as: HRH Eze Kanu Nwa Kanu, HRH Eze Okoroafor Uro Okoroafor, Chief Prophet Godwin O. Ogbonnaya, Chikamara Okoroafor, Chinedu Sunday Nkebem, and Ikechukwu Ogbonnaya.

The Eze Mbiabong and Mazi Anige had filed the lawsuit following the February 4, 2023 pronouncement (by the respondents), ostracizing the Mbiabong residents of Obinkita extraction from all cultural and traditional activities with their kith and kin in the Arochukwu homeland.

The duo had urged the court to hold, and declare that the purported banishment is a total derogation of their rights to freedom of association, and freedom of movement as guaranteed under the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

They are asked the court to declare that the respondents, by their action and pronouncement, subjected them and other Mbiabong residents of Obinkita extraction to psychological torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and derogation of their rights to the dignity of human person(s).

Finally, they sought the court’s declaration that the Mbiabong people of Obinkita extraction are entitled to the right to dignity of their persons, right to freedom of association and right to freedom of movement.

And Justice Enwereji, after reviewing the arguments of both parties in the suit, said: “Parties are agreed that the Mbiabong village of the applicants have their ancestry in Ndi Akweke Compound, Obinkita, Arochukwu, where the 2^nd applicant (Nwankwo Jacob Anige) hails from; that the said two villages share common ancestral linage.

“It is the applicants’ case that the respondents banished 2^nd applicant and his Mbiabong people for the reason that they tried to make peace in their ancestral home of Ndi Akweke, Obinkita, over an Ezeship tussle; that his peace moves in respect of the Ezeship tussle did not go down well with the respondents; that the respondents, on 4/2/23 met at Oror, Arochukwu, and banished the 2^nd applicant and his Mbiabong people from Arochukwu till further notice; that the 1^st-3^rd respondents detailed the 4^th-7^th respondents to go round the villages in Arochukwu and announce the said banishment of the 2^nd applicant and his people of Mbiabong village; that the respondents have been threatening to eliminate the 2^nd applicant and the people of Mbiabong if they ever come to Arochukwu again.

Consequently, Justice Enwereji held: “It is hereby declared that the banishment of the 2^nd applicant and his Mbiabong people of Arochukwu extraction on the 4^th of February, 2023, by the respondents, from associating, visiting, and participating in functions and activities of Ndi Akweke, Obinkita, Arochukwu is inhuman, degrading, primitive and unconstitutional and a total derogation of their right to freedom of movement as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)…

“I hereby declare that the 2^nd applicant and his Mbiabong people of Arochukwu extraction are entitled to their right to the dignity of their persons, right to freedom of association, and of movement…

“The respondents, their agents and privies are hereby restrained from further violation of the said fundamental rights of the 2^nd applicant and his Mbiabong people.”The judge also awarded the sum of N200, 000 against the respondents, in favour of the 2^nd applicant, to cover his transport expenses.