By Adesina Soyooye
For the people of the South-east, the weekend which began on Saturday, October 16, 2021, is continuing. It is a long holiday which stretches to the next weekend – Friday.
Here is how it is.
*Monday, October, 18, is the weekly sit-at-home order by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB. And even though IPOB had since, officially, canceled it, the order has continued to be obeyed in most parts of the Zone out of fear because there is a group, allegedly, a rogue group, which insists on enforcing it every week.
IPOB had earlier ordered a sit-at-home order to be observed every Monday, to pressurise the FG into releasing its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is in the custody of the Federal Government, but it was later canceled and restricted to only the days of Kanu’s appearance in Court.
Yet, every Monday, there are pockets of violence and destruction and sorrow in some areas in the Zone perpetrated by those allegedly enforcing the order.
*Tuesday, October 19 is a Federal Government Holiday to mark the Muslim celebration of Ed-el-Malud.
*Wednesday, October, 20, is expected to be a protest day to mark the one year anniversary of the bloody and violent #EndSARS protest of 2020. And, even though the Nigerian Security has warned against any such action on that day, most people will stay home.
*Thursday, October 21, is the real IPOB-ordered sit- at-home. That is the day Kanu is expected to appear at a Federal High Court, Abuja, to answer to charges of alleged terrorism, treasonable felony and other sundry issues.
The Group has warned that if the FG fails to arraign him on that day, the South-east would be on a lock down for one month.
Clarifying its stand on the long holiday IPOB, in a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, said it never orderd any sit-at-home order on Monday and Tuesday. It said its sit-at-home order is against Thursday, October 21, the day of Kanu’s expected appearance in Court.
Following is the full text of the statement.
IGNORE FAKE NEWS ON SIT-AT-HOME ON MONDAY, TUESDAY – IPOB
“The attention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great and indefatigable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the fabricated statement being circulated by mischief makers and paid agents of darkness that IPOB had directed Biafrans to sit-at-home Monday, October 18; Tuesday, October 19; and Thursday, October 21 for our leader, and One year anniversary of#EndSARS protest.
“We want to make it categorically clear that the above purported statement did not emanate from IPOB, and we completely dissociate with such falsehood. IPOB did not issue any sit-at-home except on October 21 when our leader is expected to appear in court.
“We therefore, urge members of the public to ignore the purported statement and utter falsehood being peddled by paid agents of government to create confusion and demarket IPOB. Their intension is to portray IPOB as violent and insensitive movement but we know their antics, and shall beat them to it.
“For the sake of clarity, IPOB has not called for any sit-at-home except on Thursday, October 21 when our Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will appear in court in Abuja. Biafrans will solidarise with him by staying indoors on that day because we are all in the struggle together. He did nothing to deserve any persecution by the federal government.
“We seriously warn all those behind this rumour to retrace their steps and stop tarnishing the good image of IPOB.
:As a responsible and responsive movement, we stopped Monday Sit-at-home in the interest of our people. When we discovered that hooligans and paid agents of death wanted to hijack the opportunity to unleash mayhem on our people and cleverly blame it on IPOB, we stopped it. So, anybody sitting at home on Mondays does so out of ones volition and not on the orders of IPOB.
“We also urge the general public to ignore the fake news that our leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU has been taken away by foreign government”
The statement was dated October 16, 2021.
It has been estimated that for every sit-at-home, the Zone loses over N50bn.
