Ejiofor made the allegation in a statement issued on Wednesday while reacting to recent revelations linked to the ongoing prosecution of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Human rights lawyer, Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has accused the Nigerian government of ethnic bias and selective prosecution of terrorism-related cases.
Ejiofor made the allegation in a statement issued on Wednesday while reacting to recent revelations linked to the ongoing prosecution of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Ejiofor said disclosures attributed to the Department of State Services (DSS) during court proceedings had reignited questions about consistency, fairness and credibility in the administration of justice in the country.
While cautioning against prejudging the case against the former Attorney-General, he said the allegations so far made public raised troubling questions beyond legality, extending to conscience and equity.
According to Ejiofor, one aspect of the allegations against Malami suggests that certain individuals earlier identified by security agencies as financiers of terrorism were not prosecuted during Malami’s tenure.
"These were not whispers from street corners, but conclusions reportedly drawn from extensive intelligence investigations. The irony is difficult to ignore,” he said.
He noted that the names, reportedly dominated by persons of northern extraction, had been published years ago following extensive intelligence investigations linking them to Boko Haram, ISWAP, armed bandit groups and other jihadist networks.
"Their alleged activities were said to be backed by verifiable intelligence. Yet, prosecutions were abandoned, files closed, and clean bills of health quietly issued,” Ejiofor stated.
"One might ask: was terrorism suddenly cured, or merely forgiven?”
Contrasting this with developments in the South-East, the lawyer said his law office had defended hundreds of Igbo individuals who were arbitrarily arrested across the region on allegations of terrorism and related offences.
He said, "Speaking not from hearsay but from direct professional experience, I can state, without fear of contradiction, that my law office personally defended hundreds of Igbo youths, fathers, mothers, and breadwinners who were arbitrarily arrested across the South-East.
"Some were seized on their way to burials, others at their workplaces, and a few; only the 'fortunate' ones, were eventually brought before the courts.
"They were charged with offences grandly labelled as terrorism, membership of terrorist organisations, illegal possession of firearms, and other elaborately framed but manifestly unfounded allegations.
"Some of these charges were instituted before the Federal High Court in Abuja, at the instance and upon the advice of the very office of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, now under scrutiny.
"After full trials, every one of those cases collapsed. The accused persons were discharged and acquitted. No evidence. No links. No crimes known to law.
Despite the acquittals, he said the consequences for the defendants were severe, noting that some died in custody while others spent months or years incarcerated before being cleared.
He added that their livelihoods and families were affected irreversibly, even as those alleged to be the real sponsors of terrorism remained free.
The lawyer also drew attention to the continued detention of hundreds of Igbo youths at Wawa Barracks in Niger State, whom he said had been held for between four and six years without trial.
Some of the detainees had travelled to Abuja in 2021 to observe court proceedings of the imprisoned leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and were arrested while returning to the South-East.
Ejiofor said the detainees were neither arrested at the court premises nor charged to court, but were apprehended in Lokoja and transferred to Wawa Barracks, where they remain in custody without conviction or formal trial.
He described the situation as incompatible with constitutional governance, questioning how attending court proceedings or expressing solidarity could be construed as terrorism.
Calling for urgent action, Ejiofor appealed to the Nigerian Government and the Attorney-General of the Federation to intervene and order the immediate release of those still detained at Wawa Barracks.
"Selective justice is not justice. Delayed justice is not justice. Ethnic justice is a contradiction in terms,” he said.
"A system that prosecutes the weak with enthusiasm while shielding the powerful with silence does not fight terrorism; it rebrands it.”