The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have declared May 30 as sit-at-home day throughout Biafraland and Nigeria in remembrance of its fallen heroes and heroines.
The group urged religious institutions across the country to offer special prayers the night before the day for Biafran heroes murdered in cold blood in the region. The date of the sit-at-home order is a day after President Buhari is sworn in as President of the country for a second consecutive democratic term in office.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Emma Powerful, its Media and Publicity Secretary, the group said the day would be a time to remember not just the Biafran supporters who lost their lives to the brutalities of the security agencies of the state but also victims of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen attacks. It added that the entire Biafraland would be in total lock down, adding that there would be no human, vehicular or animal movements across Biafraland on that day.
“Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and Temples are encouraged to open their places of worship on the midnight of the 29th of May for special prayers in remembrance of all that died as a result of violence and sponsored killings. Special vigil will be held at the homes of select Biafran heroes and heroines who were murdered in cold blood in Biafraland.
“This year’s remembrance and sit-at-home order will be special because it will present a unique moment of shared pains and misery for all the families that lost their loved ones to war, hunger, starvation, disease, terrorism and state sponsored killings going on now in Nigeria.
“We remember the heroic few that stood up against tyranny especially those that sacrificed their lives to defend the defenseless and those that lost their lives because there was no one to defend them. The middle-belt and Yoruba brethren are advised to join this historic sit at home order to honour the memory of all that died unjustly in Nigeria.
We are calling on all the people of Southern Kaduna, Middle Belt especially Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, those affected by herdsmen terrorism in Ondo, Osun and other states in Yorubaland to join the great family of IPOB in observing a day of solemn prayer and sit at home to remember those who lost their lives unlawfully at the hands of Fulani terrorist herdsmen and security agencies even during the recently concluded fraudulent 2019 general elections. “In our usual tradition, all IPOB families in the Diaspora must rally on the streets of their respective countries with written petitions ready to be submitted to the nearest United Nation offices and embassies of foreign missions in that country” read a part of the statement.