Due to the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government to release him on or before Saturday, August 8.
Failure to adhere to this ultimatum may result in the total shutdown of economic activities in the South-East, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the IPOB.
This statement was issued and signed by the IPOB’s Head, Directorate of State, Chika Edoziem who said the land of Biafra would not accommodate anyone of them, in the event of any harm to Kanu.
The group also urged governors and leaders of the region, who allegedly had a hand in the arrest and abduction of Kanu from Kenya, to pray that nothing untoward happens to him in detention.
The statement read partly: “The Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra is very much aware of the strategy of the government of Nigeria to subject the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra worldwide, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to media trial and to convict him in the public before giving him that public conviction, an official stamp of the compromised Nigerian judicial system.
“The global community knows that self-determination is not a crime; the Nigerian government knows equally that self-determination does not in any way constitute any known offence stipulated in their constitution and therefore do not have any case against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
In recognition of the above facts and truths, the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra demands herewith an unconditional and immediate release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on or before August 8, 2021, failing which we shall commence a weekly lockdown of Biafraland, starting on Monday, August 9, 2021.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this total lockdown of Biafraland will take place every week until our leader is released unconditionally. This weekly lockdown is simply one of the measures we shall put in place to ensure that our leader is released hale and hearty.”
Ripples Nigeria had reported that Kanu was arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria. He has since been placed in the custody of the Department of States Services (DSS) in Abuja on charges bordering on treason and felony.
