Some members of the Indigenous People of
Biafra, who took to the streets and markets in Enugu to call on
residents to embark on a sit-at-home protest, have been arrested by the
police.
One of our correspondents learnt that the IPOB members were apprehended at the popular Ogbete Main Market in Enugu.
Twelve members of the pro-Biafran group whose names were not disclosed by the police were arrested during the incident.
It was gathered that the IPOB members
invaded the market with public address systems and pamphlets, urging
traders to close their shops and stay at home on Friday, September 23,
to press home their demand for the release of the group’s leader, Mazi
Nnamdi Kanu.
Amaraizu said 21 mobile telephone handsets were recovered from the arrested IPOB members, as well as Biafran flags and emblems.
Pamphlets, which the suspects distributed in the market, were also confiscated by the police.
Some of the pamphlets read, ‘IPOB, for
the betterment of your children and yourself’, ‘Please stay at home on
23/9/16’, ‘There will be no work, no school, no business, no market’ and
‘Free Nnamdi Kanu, free Biafra.’
The sit-at-home protest, which IPOB is
canvassing in all parts of the South-East and South-South, is part of
the group’s plan to stage rallies ‘in major cities of the world’ on
September 23.
IPOB had, in a statement released by its
Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Monday, disclosed
plans to “further compound Nigeria’s economic misery” by stopping all
economic activities in the South-East and the South-South through a
sit-at-home protest in a bid to demand Kanu’s freedom from what it
described as an “illegal detention.”
IPOB said letters and petitions
demanding Kanu’s release would be submitted to governments of various
countries where the planned rallies would hold on September 23.
The secessionist group pleaded with the
international community to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to
free Kanu, failing which “things would fall apart” in the country.
However, the police said it had beefed
up security in Enugu to stop IPOB from disrupting commercial activities
in line with the planned sit-at-home protest.
According to Amaraizu, the arrested IPOB
members threatened to disrupt commercial activities if the people
failed to heed the sit-at-home plea.
The police spokesman said security
agencies were ready to forestall possible breakdown of law and order on
the day of the planned protest.
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