By Akinwale Kasali
In a twist of irony, pro-Biafra Group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has applauded Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, on his move to bring an end to the Sit-At-Home order in the State and other South Eastern State imposed on the people.
Readers would recall that the ill-thought out order was imposed on the South-east in 2021 by IPOB to protest the detention and prosecution of its Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government and force his freedom. At the time it was declared, IPOB made it an every Monday affair and on any day Kanu was billed to appear in Court. To enforce it, people’s businesses were ruined, the economy of the Zone was brought to its knees, violence as never witnessed before in the Zone was the order of the day and the people wept.
Many months later, after much pressure from a number of people, and seeing that its order had no effect on Kanu’s fate, and that on the contrary, it was the nasser of the South-east who were bearing the brunt, and that neither the FG nor other Regions in Nigeria cared a hoot whether the Group shot down South-east or not, IPOB reduced the order to only the days Kanu would appear in Court. It was to finally cancel it, and declared anybody enforcing it as an enemy.
However, at the time it cancelled it, it was late. It had gotten out of its hands, and taken over by all kinds of gangs, who were making financial gains out of enforcing it.
The worst culprit was, still is, an estranged IPOB member, Finland-based Simon Ekpa, a self-proclaimed disciple of Kanu. Still claiming IPOB membership, even though he has been denied by the Group, Ekpa and his own group which, allegedly, goes by the name, Autopilot, have kept the sit-at-home order alive, inspite of warnings to the contrary by Kanu whose disciple Ekpa proclaims he is.
In applauding Governor Mbah, the Biafran agitators claimed that they had put an end to the siege, alleging that some unscrupulous elements of the State, hiding under the guise of IPOB had continued the siege.
Cautioning the Enugu State Governor against the use of force on the people, IPOB claimed the police know the criminals enforcing the “non-existent sit-at-home.”
Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesman, in a statement on Monday said that criminal elements hijacked the Sit-At-Home order from IPOB, as the Group had suspended the exercise long before now.
“After our leadership initiated the Monday sit-at-home order to demand for 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.
“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.”
It, however, stated that while the exercise is gradually winding down across the South-East, Mba should avoid the use of force to clamp down on the people as this would create anarchy.
It said the security agents can stop the enforcers of sit-at-home and their sponsor because they know themselves, adding that “their leader in Europe are behind these criminalities going on in the South-East.”
“The governor must know that the Nigeria Police know the criminals and the hideout of the criminals who enforce sit-at-home in some communites but are claiming to be IPOB but they are not.
“We are calling on Mba never to allow a single person die because of this exercise because we don’t know anything about it.
“Calling on the Nigeria murderous security agents to stop Monday sit-at- home is a call that will be used as a license to target and kill IPOB members and innocent Biafra citizens. So, Mba should be careful not to be used by enemies to target and attack IPOB members and ESN operatives.
“Mba should never make the same mistake, Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo made by using the Nigeria 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 group added.
