Even Nnamdi Kanu Can’t Stop Sit-At-Home, Faithful Claims

One Okoronkwo Obieze, an acclaimed faithful of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Tuesday, told THE WHISTLER that the sustained sit-at-home in most Southeast states on Mondays was no longer under the control of Kanu and his IPOB.

IPOB is the Indigenous People of Biafra founded by Kanu to champion the liberation of the Old Eastern Region, especially Southeast, from alleged marginalisation in Nigeria’s polity. Kanu was arrested in Kenya and brought to Nigeria in a manner Nigeria’s Appeal Court described as ‘extraordinary rendition’. The same court acquitted and discharged him, and further ordered his restitution, an order the federal government did not abide by.

A Federal High Court in Abia State also acquitted Kanu of alleged jumping of bail in 2017 in a suit instituted by his special counsel, Barr Aloy Ejimakor. The court awarded damages against the federal government, describing his attempted arrest as ‘invasion’ because he was still on bail when Nigerian security agents went to his village to arrest him.

Obieze said, “People say we are destroying our resources by sitting at home. But it is basically in honour of our freedom fighter. If courts did not acquit and discharge Kanu, it would have been another narrative. Why hasn’t he been released? Kanu is not more than millions of Ndigbo and oppressed minorities that he represents. So, he can’t even stop the sit-at-home. It is part of our solidarity for him. We feel happy sitting down on Mondays for him.”

Recall that Kanu’s lead counsel, Dr Mike Ozekhome, recently said the IPOB leader does not support sitting at home on Mondays. Quoting the legal luminary, “As his lead counsel and lawyer, he has told me that he does not believe in sit-at-home. He cannot be fighting for his people and shutting down their economy.

“How do they feel? How do they feed? How will they train their children? Many a time, he cried to me in my presence that he wants to be released so that he can hold a world press conference and address the Igbo and Alaigbo and the entire world to say ‘don’t stay at home on Mondays, go about your normal duties, go to work because the Bible tells us it is upon the labour of your hands, I will bless the fruits of your labour.”

Enugu State government last week said it would revoke shops and operating licences of residents of the state that complied with the order effective July 24. The state government reportedly began sealing some shops that allegedly did not open for businesses yesterday.

Obieze said, “We operate in a democracy society. We have the right to sit at home. The shops being sealed are privately owned. The owners pay rents and taxes. How on earth can a government compel the owners to open their shops on Mondays when they don’t wish to? They should first look at the real cause of the sit-at-home. It is because of Kanu’s human rights violations, and the refusal of our government and Igbo selfish politicians to enable his release. There is a provision for self-determination in the African Charter as well as the UN Convention.”