The Southeast has again been put on the edge as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has renewed its vow to shut down economic and social activities in the region for a month.
IPOB said it would only back down on the threat if the Federal Government gave a firm assurance that its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, would be brought to court on October 21 for trial.
The latest warning by the group coincided with the rampage of gunmen in Nnewi, Anambra State, at the weekend.
The hoodlums killed two, injured one, and torched a Department of State Service (DSS) vehicle as well as the home of a Lagos-based All Progressives Congress(APC) chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, in the town.
They also struck at the Federal Road Safety Corps and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH).
However, Southeast governors and other leaders of the zone are scheduled to meet tomorrow in Enugu to, seek an end to the killings and destruction of properties in the region.
They are also expected to discuss measures to encourage residents of the zone to go about their businesses on Mondays since IPOB had called off Ghost Mondays.
In spite of the troubleshooting by the Southeast governors, IPOB restated it would from October 21 enforce the one-month sit at home because of an alleged plan by the government to continue to incarcerate Kanu.
The group solicited the support of other ethnic nationality agitators for the sit-at-home.
In the statement by its Media and Public Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB urged all agitators to put their differences behind them and rise like one people to defend their ancestral land against their common enemy.
The statement reads in part: “Following our earlier declaration of one-month lockdown of Biafraland should the Nigeria Government fail to bring our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to the court on October 21, we, the global family of the Indigenous of Biafra, requests our brothers and sisters in the Oduduwa Republic and Middle Belt, including Igbo and Biafra businessmen and women, traders who are doing business outside Biafra land to shut down their business to demonstrate our resolve for the emergence of our new nation, Biafra, and support for our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and others who are facing a similar fate with us to join us in sympathy protest.
“All lovers of Biafra, including Christian communities in the North and other parts of Nigeria, who receive unnecessary humiliation, intimidation, and killings from terrorists, bandits, and murderous herdsmen should understand that time has come for all victims of impunity and atrocities to unite together for resistance.
“We need to put our differences behind us and rise as one people to defend our ancestral land against our common enemy and show… that Nigeria belongs to all of us all and any Biafra man residents in Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Gigawa, and other parts of North and western parts of Nigeria must shut down their shops in support of this fight for freedom and release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“We cannot afford to abandon him at this point after sacrificing so much for us all. We must not fail to understand that the Federal Government dreads Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Ighoho. two heroes for freedom, and that is why it wants to keep them out of circulation. But we must resist the evil plot.”
However, a top police officer, who pleaded anonymity, told The Nation that “ the Force will soon be launching a massive, well-coordinated, target-oriented and intelligence-driven operation aimed at neutralising this threat.”.
via: Information Nigeria
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