The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has encouraged South-East people to disregard any proclamation of sit-at-home on October 21 and 22, claiming that the directive did not come from the group.
For more than two weeks, a video and voice notes have circulated on social media, telling Southeast people to stay indoors on October 21 and 22, claiming that those days had been designated as sit-at-home days.
The voice note also threatened to deal with anyone who did not follow the command, claiming that it was still sacred.
This announcement has caused worry and disarray, especially in Anambra, as certain official and non-official engagements scheduled for those dates have been postponed.
For example, our correspondent learnt that trials scheduled in the law courts on those days were postponed for another day, and school activities were also cancelled.
When our correspondent enquired, one of the court clerks at the High Court in Onitsha (name withheld) simply replied, “We heard they have declared October 21 and 22 as sit-at-home, and that necessitated the rescheduling of every engagement on those days. It was rescheduled since last week.
“The reason for the rescheduling of the cases coming up on those days is to avoid a situation where hoodlums will hijack the vehicle that may be conveying suspects to the court from the prisons.”
The notice read, “Announcement: Good evening, Dear Parents and guardians. Based on the circulating threats from IPOB, be notified that there will be no school on Monday and Tuesday, 21st and 22nd October 2024. This is strictly for security reasons. In essence, it is a precautionary measure.
“Mid-term break begins on Wednesday, 23rd October, 2024. Therefore, students are expected to resume school on Monday, October 28, 2024. Thanks, and remain blessed. Signed: Management.”
However, in response to the incident, the pro-Biafran group asked people to go about their daily business, claiming that the “illegal” sit-at-home declaration order was issued by criminal elements and infiltrators, not IPOB.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, said, “IPOB did not declare any sit-at-home order on October 21 and 22. The illegal order is from criminal elements and Finland-based infiltrators who are not our members.
“We urged our people to ignore the order and go about their normal business on those days. IPOB does not want to talk about it because we don’t want to create panic over the matter.
“Biafrans must understand that IPOB does not declare unnecessary sit-at-home. We have since suspended it, and anybody declaring it is a criminal element that should be ignored.
“We didn’t want to talk about it again in order to avoid giving undue popularity to the inconsequential order from Finland-based infiltrators.”
