The Indigenous People of Biafra has denied reports that they ordered a three day-sit-at-home action which reportedly ought to take action on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, this week, respectively, in commemoration of the first anniversary of the #EndSARS nationwide protest.
The group described the reports making rounds as fake news in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful.
They noted that they had only approved a sit-at-home order on Thursday, a day its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is expected to be arraigned by the Federal Government at the Federal High court in Abuja.
IPOB said that it cancelled its weekly sit-at-home order when it observed that unnamed people wanted to cash in on it to unleash mayhem on people of the South East region.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Indigenous People of Biafra ably led by our great and indefatigable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the fabricated statement being circulated by mischief makers and paid agents of darkness that IPOB had directed Biafrans to sit-at-home Monday, October 18; Tuesday, October 19; and Thursday, October 21 for our leader, and One year anniversary of #EndSARS protest.
“We want to make it categorically clear that the above purported statement did not emanate from IPOB, and we completely dissociate with such falsehood. IPOB did not issue any sit-at-home order except on October 21 when our leader is expected to appear in court.”
The statement further urged members of the group to shun the report.
It read, “For the sake of clarity, IPOB has not called for any sit-at-home except on Thursday, October 21 when our Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will appear in court in Abuja. Biafrans will solidarise with him by staying indoors on that day because we are all in the struggle together. He did nothing to deserve any persecution by the federal government. We seriously warn all those behind this rumour to retrace their steps and stop tarnishing the good image of IPOB.
“As a responsible and responsive movement, we stopped Monday Sit-at-home in the interest of our people. When we discovered that hooligans and paid agents of death wanted to hijack the opportunity to unleash mayhem on our people and cleverly blame it on IPOB, we stopped it. So, anybody sitting at home on Mondays does so out of one’s volition and not on the orders of IPOB. We also urge the general public to ignore the fake news that our leone’s Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been taken away by a foreign government.”