Mondays of every week has been declared sit-at-home by the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) to protest against the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Mr Kanu was intercepted and extradited back to the country last month from Kenya, according to the account of his younger brother, Emmanuel. The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has continued to maintain sealed lips of how it got hold of the seccessionist who fled the country when soldiers raided his Afaraukwu home in 2017.
Analysts say with the denial of the East African country feigning ignorance of handing the IPOB leader to Nigerian security agencies, Mr Kanu might have been illegally abducted, flouting due process of extradition.
The fugitive was to appear in court on Monday but the State Security Service (SSS) who are detaining him cited logistics reasons for failing to produce him in court.
His lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who complained to the court about not being allowed to see his client was granted access by the court but the secret police barred him from seeing the IPOB leader again.
In a statement on Friday, the seccessionist group said it was embarking on a sit-at-home protest every Monday until Mr Kanu is released. The exercise it to begin next month. The last one it declared was fully complied with.
“We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to announce to all Biafra citizens, friends of Biafra and lovers of Biafra freedom and independence that IPOB leadership has declared every Monday ‘a ghost Monday,'” the group’s spokesman said in a statement. “This declaration takes effect from Monday, August 9, 2021.
“From that day, Biafra land will be on lockdown every Monday from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm until our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who was unlawfully abducted in Kenya and illegally detained by the federal government of Nigeria is released.
“We wish to state full details of this coming ghost Mondays every week, our people must understand that it was designed to show the world how serious we are towards this fight for Biafra freedom and independence everybody must adhere to this clarion call put in place by the leadership of IPOB and it would be good for everyone to know that that IPOB will not relent until Biafra is fully achieved.
“The DSS can go ahead and keep our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu incommunicado without access to him and we observed that DSS operatives are torturing our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the point of death; that was why they don’t want anybody to see his state of health in the DSS facility.
“DSS should know that if anything untoward happens to him, we are going to confirm what IPOB is made of and they will understand that we are prepared for this freedom. Our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not a criminal and has the right to be visited in their custody.
“This is a call for Biafran leaders, politicians, especially those whose names have been mentioned as being behind his abduction and rendition to Nigeria if anything happens to our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu all of them should prepare never to come back to Biafraland because it will not accommodate us together.
“Nobody should take our quietness as cowardice. Our intelligence reveals that Nnamdi Kanu is under serious torture and humiliation because he refused all offers given to him.
“We declare every Monday sit-at-home throughout Biafra land until our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu regains his freedom.
“The federal government must allow him to access to his personal physicians, and allow him to sign documents given to him by the British Government to provide him consular assistance. This peaceful protest will continue once every week until our demands are met.
“We urge Biafrans to be prepared because we will no longer fold our arms while our leader who is fighting for the liberation of the oppressed indigenous nationalities in Nigeria is languishing in detention. We are going to cripple the Nigerian economy until they free him.
“Consequently, all institutions public and private, transport companies, schools, banks, markets, airports and seaports in Biafra land must shut down every Monday beginning from August 9. People are to remain indoors to register their concern over the fate of our Leader and the rest of all agitators languishing in various security detentions.
“Nobody should attempt to flout this directive as doing so may come with huge consequences. Anybody flouting this order is taking a grave risk.
“Nnamdi Kanu has sacrificed so much for Biafra, so sacrificing Mondays of every week is not too much for us. Fulani herdsmen have continued to kill our people yet the federal government failed to protect our people,” the statement added.
