THE Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) yesterday confirmed the authenticity of the handwritten note by its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to Simeon Ekpa ordering him to stop calling sit-at-home on his behalf in the South East region.
This was as Enugu youths stormed the streets yesterday in support of the IPOB leader’s directive to Ekpa to end the illegal sit-at-home that has ruined lives and businesses in the region.
Recall that Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, had unveiled and read the note at a press briefing in Enugu last Friday. No sooner had the note been made public than Ekpa dismissed it as “fake”, saying it was orchestrated by the Department of State Services (DSS) and other government agencies. He had gone further to question the rationale behind it.
But in a statement forwarded to The Guardian in Enugu by the IPOB, the group also dissociated itself and Kanu from “the senseless enforcement of sit-at-home”, stressing that it decided to make it public to avoid consequences on innocent citizens.
The statement signed by the Media and Publicity Secretary of the IPOB, Emma Powerful, stated that Kanu in his wisdom, “communicated the message to the infiltrators through the right channel and a source they should trust.”
Heb added: “The claim that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s handwritten note is fake is part of their mischief to continue in their contract to blackmail IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with the violent enforcement of the infamous sit-at-home used to terrorise our people. We understand that a power drunk crime Minister with his inconsequential kangaroo de facto government in exile will ignore the order for the fear of deflating his over bloated ego.
“IPOB leadership initiated the Monday sit-at-home in protest of the abduction and rendition of our leader and to make sure that the Nigeria government arraigned Mazi Nnamdi Kanu openly, in a public court where we could see him. But our leader instructed that it be suspended so that we don’t torture our people. In line with the principle of command and control, we obeyed, and the sit-at-home order was suspended. However, infiltrators who don’t believe in the principle of command and control, which is a core value of IPOB, ignored the order from our leader. These infiltrators working alongside the Nigeria government contracted agent provocateurs’ violent enforcement of reckless sit-at-homes has escalated insecurity in Biafra Land.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has sent messages through his visitors at DSS dungeon to the infiltrators to stop the reckless sit-at-home several times, all to no avail.
“When our leader called for complete peace in Biafra Land and to protect our people instead of killing them in one of his court appearances, he was referring to the infiltrators to stop their infamous enforcement of sit-at-home orders. That call went on deaf ears. This last message in his handwriting is the last straw.”
The statement continued: “Every Biafran must understand the importance of this letter. If you are a lover of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, you must listen to him. More so, we must stop giving credence to the enemy of Ndigbo and Biafrans claiming to be Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s disciple but has gone ahead to make himself a Prime Minister while his supposed leader is in solitary detention. Perhaps when Mazi comes out, he will become the fake disciple’s deputy or personal assistant. Every Biafran must stop observing any sit-at-home order from the infiltrators. The reckless enforcement and abuse of sit-at-homes is an opportunity for criminals to kidnap, murder, maim and snatch cars from innocent citizens.”
These government sponsored criminality and violent enforcement of sit-at-home have endangered the lives of our people through invasion of murderous and over-zealous Nigeria security agents.
“The note from our leader dissociating himself and IPOB from the infamous sit-at-homes are being distributed to all Nigeria Security Agencies, all foreign Embassies in Abuja, and to the contractors of the infiltrators for their notice. We are IPOB, and we are wiser than the serpent.”
In the peaceful protest to support the IPOB leader’s directive, Enugu youths marched through major roads and streets in the metropolis brandishing placards with various inscriptions, such as, ‘Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is Against Sit-at-Home’; ‘Sit-at-Home Discourages Economic Progress’; ‘We say NO to Enemies of our Dear State and Region’; ‘Sit-at-Home Affects our Mental Health’; ‘Sit-at-home is Affecting our Children’s Education’ and ‘We Cannot Continue this Way’, among others.
Leader of Enugu Innovative Youths, Comrade Edeani Maduabuchi Edeani, who was part of the protest, told reporters that people pushing the illegal sit-at-home under any guise should stop it, adding that the IPOB leader is against it and has publicly called for its cancellation.
Edeani said that the illegal sit-at-home had resulted in untold hardship and poverty in Enugu State and by extension the entire South East.
“The illegal sit-at-home is causing so much havoc and making our education, health and economic institutions not to function optimally and our people are counting their losses both as individuals, groups and corporate entities.
“We as youths in Enugu State are supporting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in his stance to stop and totally cancel the illegal sit-at-home being engineered by a misguided Nigerian in Finland.
“We are here to let the world know that anybody supporting the illegal sit-at-home is against the South-East, good people of Enugu State and the future of youths in the state and South East in general.
“I call on all youths in Enugu State and South-East to desist from supporting the retrogressive, evil and illegal sit-at-home.
“It remains a wrong path and it will not do anybody any good rather it will truncate our future and prospects in life as youths,” Edeani added.
He, however, appealed to the Federal Government to obey the court order and release Kanu, adding that it would help to reinvigorate the South East and bring the manipulation by a few hoodlums to an end.
Also speaking, Mr. Ebube Nebo said that youths in Enugu State were tired of the sit-at-home order, adding: “Sit-at-home is a cankerworm gradually snowballing into a big monster of human and economic waste.
“In all sincerity, we are suffering. It is not just about what the Enugu State governor is saying to end it; we are indeed suffering and feeling the pains of our deprivation and loss the illegal sit-at-home is causing us.
“As youths, it is affecting our education, employment and entrepreneurial prospects, while our fathers and mothers, especially those in the villages and suburbs, are living in untold hardship.”
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