Ignore Sit-at-Home Order Declared on Monday, Tuesday - IPOB Tells Residents

 

The Indigenous People of Biafra has has urged South-East residents to ignore any declaration of sit-at-home on October 21 and 22.

 

According to the group, the order did not emanate from it.

 

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.

 

The 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 Punch, “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.

 

Recall 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.

 

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.