The coalition tasked the state governments in the region to go after the enforcers of the protest, whom they described as criminals after the detained Kanu directed that anyone enforcing sit-at-home is no longer his disciple.
A coalition of pro-Biafra groups on Sunday backed the fresh move by the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to end sit-at-home protests in Southeast Nigeria.
The coalition tasked the state governments in the region to go after the enforcers of the protest, whom they described as criminals after the detained Kanu directed that anyone enforcing sit-at-home is no longer his disciple.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu on Sunday, the spokesperson for the coalition, Comrade Rita Anigbogu, who is a former Chief of Staff to Kanu and ex-Nigerian Coordinator for IPOB, affirmed that the letter ordering a Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, to end the sit-at-home with immediate effect was authored by the IPOB leader.
Flanked by leaders of other pro-Biafra groups, Comrade Anigbogu, who doubles as the Director-General of the De Biafra Mobilisers Initiative and Deputy Chairman of De Facto Customary Government of Biafra, said Kanu was deliberate and sound in judgment in ordering an end to an exercise destroying the region and its economy.
Anigbogu said, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu understands and rightly pointed out in that letter that Sit-at-Home has been counterproductive, a waste of time, resources, and energy, and indeed a self-enslavement that inflicts unnecessary hardships on our people and will continue to be so. We can’t continue to drink poison and expect the enemies of our motherland to die.
“Sit-at-Home will only help to pillage our place; will make us kill one another, and destroy our economy to the benefit of our neighbours and pleasure of our traducers.
“When Scotland talks about Brexit, the world listens and Britain quakes because Scotland has built herself into a formidable economic power. When Catalonia sneezes, the world listens and Spain catches cold because Catalonia is an economic superpower in that European country.
“The political leaders, even governors with the best intention cannot do anything, our GDP will continue to be decimated if we continue to throw away our Mondays to sit at home. You can imagine a group of people that throw away their Mondays. What about our brothers and sisters who are business people?
“We have our parents, who depend on daily proceeds to feed their children. What about pregnant women that will go into labour on Mondays? They cannot be attended to in the hospitals because we are sitting at home. What about our brothers and sisters that may have health emergencies maybe on Sunday night or Monday and they cannot access hospitals? What if you have a life-and-death need for money, and you cannot go to the bank? What about our children, who may be writing examinations?
“It beats our imagination that anyone with Biafra blood running in his veins would contemplate a continuation of the Monday Sit-at-home and worse still asking a region to Sit-at-home for two full weeks. Who is that person working for?
“So, we, the pro—Biafra groups of Enugu State extraction stand with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as we collectively reject the Sit-at-Home. Let it end now.”
She described sit-at-home enforcers as anti-Igbo elements and urged the “government to go after such criminals with every might and every resource at its disposal.”
On the authenticity of Kanu’s letter, she said: “I am here to confirm that the letter made public by Barrister Aloy Ejimakor emanated from Nnamdi Kanu. And I do so with every sense of honour and responsibility and in the name of Chukwu Okike Abiama (God).
“As most of you already know, I worked with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for a very long time, for several years. I left my businesses in Lagos and moved to Enugu to join him when he was running Radio Biafra from Enugu here.
“I was the one, who appointed Simon Ekpa the Finland Coordinator of IPOB, back then.
“So, having known Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and having worked closely with him for several years, I know his style of writing. I know his handwriting, I know his language and command of English. The letter that Barrister Ejimakor presented to the press is very authentic and is from Nnamdi Kanu. Anyone claiming otherwise is doing so for ulterior motives, which time and God will ultimately expose."