By Charles Igbo
Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, former number one Counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has told the Igbo that the sit-at-home scheduled for Monday, February 2, is fake and fraudulent.
Ejiofor, therefore, urged residents of the South-East to completely ignore it.
He was reacting to a statement signed by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, titled “IPOB declares Biafra-Wide Solidarity Lockdown on Monday February 2, 2026 in unwavering support for Onitsha traders and demand for the immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu”.
The statement read: “The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, under the leadership of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, hereby declares a Biafra-wide solidarity strike, a complete lockdown of all economic activities across Igboland and wider Biafran territories, on Monday, February 2, 2026.”
The IPOB directive, which incidentally, has been contradicted by IPOB’s Directorate of Services, DOS, is an obvious move to rubbish the order given by Governor Chukwuma Soludo for traders to return to their trading activities in Anambra State on Mondays.
But in a statement on Saturday in which he dismissed the lockdown order as fraudulent
Ejiofor noted:
“Once again, the well-worn theatre of misinformation has opened its curtains, this time with a particularly lazy script and an insultingly predictable cast.
“Late yesterday, (Friday), a report was widely circulated alleging that a total lockdown of Ala-Igbo has been ordered under the guise of a sit-at-home directive purportedly issued by ‘Emma Powerful,’ slated for Monday, February 2, 2026.
“Let it be stated, clearly, unequivocally, and without ambiguity: this directive is fake, a phantom, a calculated falsehood.
“Upon careful inquiry and diligent verification, especially considering the delicate and hard-won calm presently returning to our homeland, it became glaringly obvious that the so-called ‘Emma Powerful’ platform has been fatally compromised.
“It has been hijacked by vested interests whose business model thrives on fear, disruption, extortion, and the cynical exploitation of vulnerable communities.
“The peaceful global movement of the IPOB has formally and decisively disowned this fabricated publication, categorically distancing itself from the false sit-at-home order and directing Ndi-Igbo to go about their lawful and normal activities without fear.
“Going forward, the message from IPOB is unmistakable: any publication attributed to ‘Emma Powerful’ should be treated with extreme suspicion, if not outright contempt.
“Frankly, one cannot but express astonishment, bordering on disbelief, that at such a critical juncture, when relative peace is cautiously resurfacing in Ala-Igbo, anyone would recklessly circulate information capable of reopening wounds and inviting criminal infiltration.
“History has taught us, at unbearable cost, what happens when fake directives fall into the hands of violent opportunists masquerading as enforcers.
“It is, therefore, no longer sufficient to merely advise our people to ‘ignore’ publications from this source.
“The time has come for greater clarity and firmness. The platform known as ‘Emma Powerful,’ in its current corrupted state, has positioned itself as an adversary to Ala-Igbo’s peace, progress, and collective well-being.”
Recall that the sit-at-home regime was imposed on the South-east by IPOB in 2021 to protest Nnamdi Kanu’s rendition from Kenya to Nigeria and to pressurize the Federal Government of Nigeria into releasing him.
The order brought the Zone to its knees, inflicting unprecedented violence, death, sorrow and reduced the economy to the least in the country.
Seeing that the order made no impact on the Federal Government or helped Kanu’s cause, but was, instead a curse to the people it said it was protecting, IPOB suspended it.
However, a group, Autopilots, led by Simon Ekpa, an estranged IPOB member, has continued with the unpopular order and has kept inflicting pain on the people.
Ekpa, has since been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Finland for his activities in the South-east.
Discover more from The Source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
