Tobias Sylvester
A German court has convicted four members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who attacked a former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, at a cultural event in Nuremberg, Germany.
KanyiDaily had reported how Ekweremadu was beaten up by some Biafra agitators in Nuremberg at an event organised by the Ndi-Igbo Germany association for its Iri-ji (traditional festival) in 2019.
According to TheCables, four IPOB members involved in the assault had been prosecuted and sentenced to 20 days of labour without pay in August 2020.
It was gathared that the attackers were identified by the Bavaria police in August, 2019, following calls by the Nigerian embassy on German federal authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
TheCable also reported that the convicted IPOB members, who had since served their sentence, were not deported as purported on the social media.
32 IPOB members who attacked Ike Ekweremadu in Germany were deported back to Nigeria yesterday. pic.twitter.com/8gcVe5N8ml
— OBA Di' Na Mba (@VykturJohnny) November 26, 2020
A source at the Nigerian embassy revealed that two of the attackers had initially filed an appeal against their conviction but later withdrew it.
“It was only the four persons identified that were sentenced to 20 days of labour without pay. The sponsors were not identified so they were not prosecuted,” the source was quoted as saying.
It was learnt that though Ekweremadu was aware of the conviction and could institute a civil case against the IPOB members, he had yet to do so.
Under Section 102 (1), Chapter 3, of the German Criminal Code, attacks against institutions and representatives of foreign countries are punishable with fines and imprisonment.
KanyiDaily recalls that Ekweremadu said he had “moved on” and cared less about what authorities in Nigeria and in Germany where he was assaulted planned to do about the incident.
