The planned sit-at-home order declared for Monday, August 9, 2021, by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been dogged by directives and counter-directives.
On Sunday afternoon, word came out that the ‘Ghost Monday’ sit-at-home order has been suspended indefinitely.
According to the announcement credited to one Kanunta Kanu, who is said to be the IPOB leader’s younger brother, the suspension was due to the National Examination Council (NECO) examination for junior secondary schools, scheduled to hold same Monday.
The IPOB said that a new date for the commencement of the sit-at-home order would be announced later.
The group stated that its suspension of the order followed pleas by well-meaning individuals and groups within and outside Biafra land that the order is suspended to allow students from Igboland to participate in the NECO examinations.
But the IPOB apparatus issued its second statement on Sunday, insisting that there is no “purported suspension of Monday sit at home order” earlier issued by its leadership, stating that “the sit at home order remain sacrosanct on Monday tomorrow.”
IPOB Spokesperson, Emma Powerful, said in a statement that “anybody issuing press statement concerning IPOB sit at home order is fake and any statement without sit at home order or any activity of IPOB remain comrade Emma Powerful the media and publicity secretary for IPOB.
“Therefore, every Biafran should disregard regard every statement that is not from Emma Powerful or DOS and radio Biafra.
“We know the situation of those going exam tomorrow but our demand is for them release our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and our people must understand that Fulani terrorists and co stopped our people school for three years during the genocidal war in 1967 to 1970 and it did not kill our people and this one day sacrifice for the release of somebody who has sacrificed a lot for our land.
“Anybody who venture to come out tomorrow Will regret his or her life. We warn you tomorrow is total lockdown in every part of Biafra tomorrow.”
To support the statement signed by Emma Powerful, Mazi Chika Edoziem, Head of Directorate of State of IPOB said that “it has come to the attention of the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra that a misleading information to the effect that tomorrow’s Sit-At-Home in Biafraland has been suspended. Nothing can be further from the truth.
“The Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra categorically and unequivocally state that our Sit-At-Home tomorrow will go ahead as planned. Any information to the contrary must be ignored as the work of our detractors.”
But in Enugu State, although the Police have maintained sealed lips on whether the residents should ignore the order and go about their legitimate duties, members of the group have, however, braced up to ensure full compliance to the directive.
However, the Enugu State Government, while reacting to the sit-at-home order, through the Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), said there was no constituted authority, either as federal, state, or local government that declared any Monday as a resting or work-free day.
A statement by ECTDA Executive Chairman, Denge Josef Umunnakwe Onoh, said: “ECTDA wishes to clarify that the authority also wishes to assure residents in the three local councils of the state capital that there will be no molestation of anybody conducting genuine business in the state except such a person is a miscreant in which case the law enforcement agents have been put on notice to deal with such nuisances.
“We, therefore, ask all business operators within the capital territory to ignore the propaganda of a sit-at-home order as the state government has put machinery in place to ensure that lives and property are secured.
In Imo State, Commissioner of Police (CP), Abutu Yaro, has urged all residents of the 27 local councils of the state to ignore the sit-at-home order issued by IPOB in the five states of the South-east geo-political zone.
This was contained in a statement issued by the command, and signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Michael Abattam, and made available to The Guardian, yesterday.
The CP advised the people of the state to be bold and resist any enforcement to adhere to such order.
And in Anambra State, a group under the umbrella of Drivers Welfare Association (DWA) has kicked against the proposed sit-at-home order, saying that it is not in the best interest of the people of Southeast.
Patron of the association, Pastor Obinna Anisiobi, who disclosed this to newsmen, yesterday, in Onitsha, said such an exercise if carried out, would be futile and counter-productive.
He, however, said that though the drivers usually support any move aimed at fighting marginalisation of the Southeast zone and Ndigbo in particular, the urge to issue certain orders has become alarming and would not work out in some cases.