Sit-at-home will persist in Southeast until Kanu, Ekpa’s release — Orabueze

Loyalists of detained Finland-based Biafra agitator Simon Ekpa have said the compliance of Southeast residents with the Monday sit-at-home for over three years shows that Biafrans have delegitimize the Nigerian government.

The acclaimed Deputy Prime Minister of the United States of Biafra, Dr. Ngozi Orabueze, who stated this in a statement on Monday, said the sit-at-home will continue until the release of leaders of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and Simon Ekpa.

This comes as markets, businesses, and roads in parts of the Southeast shut down on Monday in a voluntary civil disobedience, known as a sit-at-home, to press home the demand for the release of the IPOB leaders.

Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, was arrested in Finland in November 2024 alongside four others on suspicion of terror-related activities, including incitement to violence in Nigeria’s Southeast.

Kanu was rearrested by the Nigerian government in June 2021.

Despite his detention, Ekpa’s followers have continued to push for the actualization of Biafra.

According to Orabueze, the voluntary observance of the sit-at-home every Monday for the last three years legitimizes Ekpa-led USB as deputized by herself.

She said, “The voluntary Monday sit-at-home, generally agreed on by almost 98 percent of citizens of the United States of Biafra today, February 3rd, 2025, recorded a huge success across the new state.

“The sit-at-home has persisted for almost three years and is seen as a referendum to delegitimize Nigeria in Biafra territory while legitimizing Biafra and its citizens.

“The sit-at-home will continue until the release of their leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the release of PM Simon Ekpa, and the complete security of Biafraland.”

She also used the opportunity to inform the world of the mass killings going on in Biafraland by the Nigerian state army and agents.

Further, Dr. Orabueze noted that the USB cabinet and government are working round the clock to put laws in place that would secure Biafrans.

She assured Biafrans that the sovereign state of Biafra will exercise its rights to defend its citizens.