The Indigenous People of Biafra has asked South-East residents to ignore any declaration of sit-at-home on October 21 and 22, insisting that the order did not emanate from the group.
A video and voice notes have been circulating on social media for over two weeks, warning residents of the South-East to remain indoors on October 21 and 22, saying that those days have been declared sit-at-home.
The voice note also threatened to deal with anyone who fails to comply with the directive saying it remains sacrosanct.
This development has generated panic and chaos, particularly in Anambra as some official and non-official engagements fixed for those days have been rescheduled.
For instance, our correspondent gathered that cases coming up at the law courts on those days were rescheduled for another day while school activities were also called off.
When asked, one of the court clerks at the High Court in Onitsha(name withheld), simply told our correspondent, “We heard they have declared October 21 and 22 as a 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.”
Our correspondent also observed that, apart from the official engagement, there was panic buying in major markets across the cities as customers were seen engaging in last-minute transactions to avoid being stranded.
A notice notifying parents and students about the postponement of activities was also displayed in one of the schools visited in Onitsha, on Sunday.
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, 28th October, 2024. Thanks and Remain Blessed. Signed: Management.”
But while reacting to the development, the pro-Biafran group urged the people to go about their normal business, saying the “illegal” sit-at-home declaration order did not emanate from IPOB, but rather from criminal elements and infiltrators, who are not members of 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.”