Human rights lawyer and lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has urged the Federal Government and the Attorney-General of the Federation to immediately intervene and secure the release of hundreds of Igbo youths detained at Wawa Barracks in Niger State.
He described their continued incarceration as unlawful, unjust, and indefensible.
Ejiofor made the call in a strongly worded statement issued on Wednesday, titled “Midweek Musing: When Justice Looks North and Blinks South — The Irony of Selective Prosecution and the Silent Suffering of a People.”
He accused the Nigerian justice system of applying different standards across regions, with devastating consequences for young people from the South-East.
According to him, many of the detained youths have spent between four and six years in custody without trial, a situation he described as “a grave violation of constitutional guarantees and the most basic principles of justice.”
According to Ejiofor, recent revelations by the Department of State Services (DSS) during the ongoing prosecution of former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, have reopened painful questions about fairness and accountability in Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts.
While stressing the need to allow judicial processes to run their course, he said the disclosures so far “raise deeply troubling questions of conscience, consistency, and credibility.”
Ejiofor alleged that during Malami’s tenure, individuals—“predominantly of northern extraction”—who had been publicly named by security agencies as alleged financiers of terrorism were never prosecuted.
“These were not mere rumours or street gossip. They were conclusions reportedly reached through extensive intelligence investigations.”
Prosecutions abandoned
He alleged that the prosecutions of many individuals accused of funding some of Nigeria’s most violent non-state actors, including Boko Haram, ISWAP, armed bandit groups, and allied jihadist networks have been quietly abandoned.
“Investigative files were closed, and clean bills of health were issued. One is compelled to ask—was terrorism suddenly eradicated, or was it simply forgiven?”
He contrasted this with what he described as the routine treatment of young people in the South-East.
Drawing from what he called his “direct professional experience,” Ejiofor said his law office has defended hundreds of Igbo youths, parents, and breadwinners who were arbitrarily arrested across the region.
“Some were picked up on their way to burials, others at their workplaces,” he said.
“Only a few—the ‘fortunate’ ones—were eventually brought before the courts.”
Many were charged with terrorism-related offences, including alleged membership of terrorist organisations and illegal possessiona of firearms.
According to him, several of those cases were filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on the advice of the Attorney-General’s office.
“After full trials, every one of those cases collapsed,” he said. “No evidence, links or crimes known to law.”
He added that the human cost was irreversible. “Some of the accused died in custody.
“Others lost years of their lives, livelihoods, and dignity—only to be told, belatedly, that they had committed no offence at all.”
Disturbing situation
Ejiofor described the situation at Wawa Barracks as particularly disturbing.
He said some of the detainees were arrested in 2021 after travelling to Abuja to observe court proceedings related to the trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
“They were not arrested at the court. Their vehicle was trailed to Lokoja, where they were apprehended while returning home.”
“To this day, they remain in detention—without trial, without conviction, without justification known to law,” he added.
Calling for urgent action, Ejiofor warned that justice “must not wear regional glasses.”
He urged the Federal Government to restore public confidence by ending what he described as selective prosecution and systemic injustice, beginning with the immediate release of all unlawfully detained Igbo youths at Wawa Barracks.
“They have waited long enough. Nigeria has tested their patience long enough. The law has no justification left,” Ejiofor submitted.
