The secessionist group had announced a total lockdown of social and economic activities every Monday starting from August 9 in the South-East region of the country.
The Indigenous People of Biafra has explained why it suspended the weekly sit-at-home order in the South-East states which it earlier instructed.
The secessionist group had announced a total lockdown of social and economic activities every Monday starting from August 9 in the South-East region of the country.
According to the group, the sit-at-home protest had been planned to be observed weekly to demand the freedom of its incarcerated leader, Nnamdi Kanu who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services for over a month.
However, speaking on Radio Biafra, IPOB’s executive, Chika Edoziem, announced the suspension of the action.
Edoziem said the sit-at-home would be declared whenever Kanu would be making appearance in court and not every Monday as earlier directed.
Reacting, the group's media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, explained that the suspension was a directive from the leader, Kanu.
He said the group had taken into cognizance the concerns expressed by Biafrans all over the world over the suspension of the sit-at-home directive.
He, however, stated that should there be another directive from the group's highest command requiring a reactivation of the suspended weekly sit-at-home, there would be no hesitation to lift the suspension.
The statement reads, “The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) understands the concerns being expressed by the global IPOB family on the suspension of the weekly sit-at-home earlier announced by the IPOB Head of Directorate of State of the Indigenous people of Biafra.
“We know that our people embraced this civil action wholeheartedly and without any compulsion. The leadership sincerely appreciate the innate desire of Biafrans to sacrifice their time, resources and energy in ensuring that our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is released unconditionally from the illegal custody of the Nigerian State who criminally gave him away from Kenya to Nigeria.
“The suspension of the sit-at-home by the IPOB Head of Directorate was as a result of a direct order from the leader of this great movement, Nnamdi Kanu.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the major fundamental guiding principles of IPOB is command and control. This simply means that all commands from the supreme leader of IPOB will be obeyed and implemented to the latter by the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
“Bearing in mind therefore that this principle has enabled this movement to surpass even the expectations of both Biafrans and non-Biafrans alike, the leadership wishes to encourage Biafran to focus on the most pressing issue confronting this great family presently which is ensuring the safety of our leader while still in the illegal custody of the DSS and to secure his unconditional release from detention.
“In accordance with the directive from our leader, our sit-at-home will in the meantime be observed on the date of our leader’s court appearances.
“The lPOB leadership urges Biafrans worldwide to take note of the next court appearance of our leader which is the 21st of October 2021.
“Any other information regarding Sit-At-Home in Biafraland not emanating from IPOB through our main channels of information dissemination should be disregarded. The Nigeria government should heed now to the voice of reason coming from within Nigeria and from outside the shores of Nigeria to unconditionally free our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and announce a date for Biafra referendum or plebiscite where our people will choose where they wish to be long before it is too late.”