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The Indigenous People of Biafra has threatened to shut down the whole of southeast region for one week if its leader, Nnamdi Kanu is not released on or before November 4, 2021.
The proscribed group insisted that Kanu did not commit any crime to warrant his continued detention in the custody of the Department of States Services (DSS).
The IPOB leader during his appearance in court on Thursday, October 21, 2021, pleaded not guilty when the charges leveled against him were read to him at a Federal High Court, Abuja.
Thereafter, Justice Binta Nyako adjourned the case till November 10.
But in a statement on Saturday, IPOB asked the Federal Government to release Kanu unconditionally by November 4.
The statement reads in part, “Following the adjournment of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s court case to 10th of November 2021, by the Federal High Court Abuja, we the great movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), wish to inform Biafrans, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom that IPOB will lock down Biafra land from 5th of November to 10th of November except Sunday, November 7th, a day our people worship the Almighty God, Chukwu Okike Abiama, if the Nigeria Government fails to release our leader unconditionally before 4th of November 2021.
“Our leader, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi must be released unconditionally on or before November 4, 2021, because he has not committed any offence known to any law.
“Failure to release our leader Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on or before November 4, 2021, our one-week Sit-At-Home begins on November 5, 2021, till November 10.
“Although we quite understand the pains and adverse effects of this option on our people, we are compelled to take it to achieve a better purpose in the collective interest of Biafrans. We have taken time to analyse what transpired on October 21, when our leader was arraigned in court and discovered that the Federal Government is not sincere and only wants to humiliate him and keep him perpetually in DSS custody to rot there.
“We all saw how lawyers, journalists, Igbo delegates and respected traditional rulers and other people, who came from all around the world to witness his court case were restricted and denied access into the court premises by security agents who kept them outside under the scorching heat of the sun. What a humiliation and wickedness!
“We cannot accept that anymore. We can never allow our leader Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to be tried secretly and we can never also allow him to be tried under Sharia law and under any guise. NIGERIA must follow International laws in handling our leader’s case.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is in DSS dungeon today because of his passion for Biafra independence, and we must sacrifice all we can to ensure that he regains his freedom. He has sacrificed so much for us all, so we must be prepared to sacrifice little for him.
“Unless the Federal Government releases him unconditionally before November 4, we shall sacrifice one week for him as a warning protest to convey to our oppressors that Nnamdi Kanu represents over 70 million Biafrans. He is innocent of all the charges preferred against him. As long as he is in detention, our individual businesses do not matter so much because he is suffering for us all and we can’t abandon him.
The group said the one week sit-at-home is to let their ‘oppressors’ understand that it won’t tolerate any plan to torment or abandon its leader in DSS custody, adding that nobody resident in the southeast region should flout the sit-at-home order.