Nnamdi Kanu: Tension In Southeast Over IPOB’s Sit-At-Home Order
The Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) sit-at-home order began on Monday, causing tension and panic across the Southeast.
The sit-at-home order was issued by IPOB to press for the release of its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Following his detention and repatriation from an African country assumed to be Kenya, Kanu is reportedly cooling his heels in the custody of the Department of State Services, or DSS.
The IPOB leader was arrested after he called for the dissolution of Nigeria and the restoration of Biafra.
His detention and deportation to Nigeria has sparked heated debate among his supporters, who think he was kidnapped and subjected to extraordinary rendition from Kenya.
Despite Kanu’s continuing imprisonment, IPOB has threatened to shut down Southeast every Monday till he is released.
However, Kanu’s brother, Kanunta, declared that the sit-at-home directive would be lifted due to pupils in the Southeast taking the National Exams Council, NECO, senior secondary school examination.
He had previously stated that a new date for the protest would be announced later.
IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful, on the other hand, advised Nigerians to dismiss Kanunta’s remark.
The Anambra State Police Command had cautioned IPOB members who intimidated residents in the state to obey the direction, frowning at the order.
CP Chris Awolabi, the state police commissioner, told DAILY POST that his officers are working underground to thwart the directive.
“If you are in Anambra, you will know what we have been doing. IPOB is a proscribed group, what do you want me to say about them? We are working.
“I do not believe in coming to the media to do my work, but if you are in Anambra, you would have seen what we are doing. We are working on that,” Awolabi said.
The state government of Anambra has also cautioned governmental servants in the state not to obey the directive.
Civil officials who obeyed the sit-at-home instruction would not be paid their August salary, according to the state government.
Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, for his part, warned IPOB against disrupting the state’s economy, growth, and peace.
Security services have been asked by Umahi to safeguard civilians from any type of molestation.
Deji Adeyanju, a popular rights activist, praised IPOB for the move.
Boycotts, according to Adeyanju, are one of the most powerful forms of protest, and Martin Luther King employed them during their time.
“I commend IPOB for the sit at home order for tomorrow as a protest to demand for the release of Nnamdi Kanu. Boycott is one of the most effective ways of protest. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement used this means effectively.
“If IPOB goes on the street to protest peacefully, the Army will kill them. They want to sit at home and protest, some of you are still talking rubbish. Are you people mad in this country?,” Adeyanju tweeted.
