The government of the United Kingdom has excluded members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra from being granted asylum.
The UK in the March issue of Immigration on humanitarian claims posted on its website www.gov.uk and titled “Country policy and information note: separatist groups in the South-East, Nigeria”, the government said “If a person has been involved with IPOB (and/or an affiliated group), MASSOB or any other ‘Biafran’ group that incites or uses violence to achieve its aims, decision-makers must consider whether one (or more) of the exclusion clauses under the Refugee Convention is applicable. Persons who commit human rights violations must not be granted asylum”.
The publication further said: “IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government, and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network (created in December 2020) – have reportedly committed human rights violations in Nigeria.
“MASSOB has been banned but is not a proscribed terrorist group in Nigeria. It too has reportedly been involved in violent clashes with the authorities”
It added: “If the person is excluded from the Refugee Convention, they will also be excluded from a grant of humanitarian protection”.