The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the government of Enugu State, which is led by Governor Peter Mbah, have agreed to put an end to the sit-at-home protests that some self-described agitators in the state continue to hold.
Recall that to attract attention to the ongoing arrest of its beleaguered leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on the part of the international community, IPOB had proclaimed a sit-at-home protest on Mondays across southeast states.
Later, the group revoked the order after acknowledging that it was having a negative impact on locals.
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According to news reports, Governor Mbah previously stated that businesses like as malls, hospitals, markets, and retail stores would have to open on Mondays or face closure.
In response, IPOB stated it had subsequently backed out of the sit-at-home as instructed by Kanu and approved by senior members of the Biafra organization in a statement released to the media on Monday through its spokesperson, Emma Powerful.
However, IPOB warned the governor of Enugu State against using violence to repress citizens in an effort to put an end to the Monday sit-at-home protests in the state.
According to Newsmen, some thugs allegedly supported by Simon Ekpa, Kanu’s self-declared follower, have been enforcing the sit-at-home protest and intimidating locals who want to leave their homes.
However, Governor Mbah criticized the ongoing effort, claiming that the directive had crushed the state’s citizens’ spirit of enterprise, commerce, and inventiveness.
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He stated that starting on Monday, June 5, a task force had been established to oversee compliance with the new mandate.
However, the main body of IPOB made it clear in the statement on Monday that it had nothing to do with the ongoing sit-at-home protests that some criminal elements had hijacked.
The statement reads: “After our leadership initiated the Monday sit-at-home order to demand the release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leadership has long directed stoppage of the exercise to avoid criminals capitalising on that to harm our people.
“Though some Biafrans continued with Monday sit-at-home voluntarily, as our leader predicted, after the suspension order, some criminals and infiltrators hijacked it and started committing crimes and enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home.
“The Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mba should be made aware that IPOB has already suspended Monday sit-at-home. For him to publicly associate IPOB with Monday sit-at-home is obnoxious. If Mba wants to return normalcy on Mondays, he has the support of IPOB because those enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home are criminals.
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“Anybody enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home order is not helping IPOB and our leader Mazi Kanu. Every member of IPOB and Biafrans should be coming out on Mondays for their business.
“The governor must know that the Nigeria Police know the criminals and the hideout of the criminals who enforce sit-at-home in some communities but are claiming to be IPOB but they are not.
“We are calling on Mba to never allow a single person to die because of this exercise because we don’t know anything about it.”
The latest request by the Nigerian security services to end Monday’s sit-at-home protest, according to IPOB, will be used as a justification to attack and murder IPOB members and defenseless Biafrans.
It cautioned Governor Mbah to exercise caution so as not to be employed by adversaries to identify and harm IPOB members and ESN agents.
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“Mba should never make the same mistake Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo made by using the Nigerian compromised security to stop Monday sit-at-home. Any attempt to use murderous Fulani-controlled security to stop the sit-at-home is an indirect way of killing our people.
“Such moves will always be counterproductive. Such measures failed in Ebonyi, Imo, and Anambra, and it will fail in Enugu if it is applied. We support him to stop the Monday sit-at-home, as we have stopped the sit-at-home. Allow the Monday sit-at-home to die off naturally by engaging our people,” the statement added.
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