ACF, Ebonyi government urge restraint on IPOB’s sit-at-home order

It’s sacrifice for heroes of Biafra struggle, says group

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has asked governors and elders of the Southeast region to prevail on pro-Biafra agitators in their domains to exercise restraint over the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)’s sit-at-home order on Wednesday, May 30. Reacting to IPOB’s statement that gave the directive, the ACF described it as destructive to national cohesion and cautioned the group to desist from making moves capable of causing chaos in the country. 

Its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim Biu, in a statement, noted that last year’s IPOB sit-at-home order did not only infringe on the liberty and rights of innocent and law abiding citizens in the Southeast zone, but was hijacked by hoodlums who unleashed terror on non-indigenes.

“ACF’s attention has been drawn to a statement by IPOB, which was proscribed by the Federal Government last year, again declaring May 30th this year a sit-at-home day in honour not only for a Biafran State but also for those alleged to have been killed by herdsmen in 20 states of the country. 

“We cannot afford a repeat of such incidence. Given the benefit of hindsight, ACF, therefore, calls on the Southeast governors to prevail on their citizens to ignore actions that seek to affect our sense of oneness and could also affect the economy and political stability of not only the Southeast but of Nigeria as a whole,” the statement reads. 

ACF further urged IPOB members to listen to the wise counsel of their elders, state governors and elected representatives at the national and state Assemblies and opt for due democratic process. 

In a related development, the Ebonyi State government yesterday barred residents of the state from observing the IPOB’s sit-at-home order.Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Internal Security to the government, Kenneth Ugbala, announced this in Abakaliki while briefing newsmen.“The issue of IPOB’s sit-at-home order came up on May 30, 2017, causing chaos in major cities of the Southeast, although we were lucky in Ebonyi. We maintain that IPOB activities have been proscribed by the governors of the Southeast states,” he said.

He added that the directive also included any orders given by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).“Citizens should resist attempts by any group to make them sit-at-home and report such to government and security agencies instead of physical resistance,” he added.

Meanwhile, IPOB yesterday insisted that the May 30 sit-at-home order was a sacrifice for the heroes and heroines of the Biafra struggle, which it said, superseded any electoral or financial benefits to any individuals or groups.

It alleged that the Federal Government had colluded with two governors and certain individuals to hold activities in some states of the Southeast on May 30 to undermine the sit-at-home directive, insisting that they were prepared to resist the move.In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful in Enugu, the group alleged that certain individuals had received financial support from the Federal Government to enable them frustrate the directive.