JUST IN: IPOB leader warned against issuing sit-at-home order in South-East

Mr James Erebuoye, President, Concerned Nigerian Network (CNN) in Diaspora, has advised the self-acclaimed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Simon Ekpa, to desist from issuing sit-at-home order in the South-East.

Erebuoye, who is also the Founder, Rebuild Nigeria Movement (RNM) worldwide, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja while reacting to insecurity development in the South-East caused by activities of members of the group.

The IPOB, in August 2021, introduced a sit-at-home order to be observed every Monday across South-East States to force the Federal Government to release its detained leader, Mr Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu is standing trial on treason charges at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

“It is gradually becoming a tradition in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria that people must sit at home on Mondays or risk loosing their lives to some unknown gunmen.

“The order is already bringing down economic activities in the region, and can affect neighboring South-South States and other parts of the country if not nipped in the bud,” Erebuoye noted.

He said Ekpa and his collaborators would face the consequences of the crisis already rocking the region and affecting the peace of the country if he continues issuing such orders.

Erebuoye warned that if Ekpa failed to listen to advise, he would ensure that Ekpa is chased out from his comfort zone in Finland and made to face the law and the consequences of his actions in Nigeria.

“He cannot be in his comfort zone abroad and be instigating crisis in Nigeria by ordering a sit-at-home order in the Eastern region, thereby depriving people from their daily businesses all for his selfish interest,” Erebuoye stressed.

Recall that Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State had recently said that those enforcing the sit-at-home order in the state and other parts of the South-East are criminals hiding under the guise of being Biafra agitators and protesting the detention of Kanu to commit crimes.

“The so called sit-at-home enforcers are mere criminals and our people must face them frontally,” the governor had said.

Mbah also said that the State Government was exploring the option of prosecuting those enforcing violence and the illegal sit-at-home order in the state at the International Criminal Court in Hague.

He said the culprits would be prosecuted for their alleged crimes against humanity, adding that nobody should be allowed to cause deaths or inflict pains on others, especially in this 21st century.

He said technology had already been deployed to guarantee the safety of residents, pointing out that there are no longer any hideouts for criminals in Enugu State. (NAN)