Home » News » Ndigbo chose Monday sit-at-home to show solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu – IPOB
News

March 18, 2025

Ndigbo chose Monday sit-at-home to show solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu – IPOB

Kanu raises alarm, alleges tricks by FG to perpetually hold him down Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has drawn attention to what he described as serial executive and judicial fraud being perpetrated against him since his extraordinary rendition in 2021. In an open letter addressed to Nigerians yesterday, Kanu said: ‘’In a judgment entered on March 1, 2017, the Federal High Court, Abuja, ruled that the ‘IPOB is not an unlawful group’. At the time, it received widespread publicity which can be verified. ‘’This landmark ruling (made by the court before it turned unjust) emanated in a criminal proceedings that required ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ and in which the federal government and my humble self presented our respective cases. ‘’Alas! Instead of the federal government to go on appeal as the law mandated (if they are dissatisfied with the judgment), the former Attorney-General (Abubakar Malami) went behind closed doors with a letter signed by late Abba Kyari and got IPOB proscribed/tagged a terrorist group in an ex parte proceedings that conducted without notice to me or to the IPOB. ‘’This abominable incident was the earliest sign yet that the government and its judiciary have struck an unholy and fraudulent alliance to deny me my rights and thereby imperil the life and liberty of millions who identity with IPOB. ‘’On October 26, 2022, a Federal High Court declared my extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional, stating that: ‘the manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents, the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).’ ‘’The court further ordered the federal government to apologize to me and pay me compensation. In a responsible society and well-ordered, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encourage the federal government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga. ‘’Pedal back to October 13, 2022, when the Court of Appeal held that: ‘The courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of ‘executive lawlessness.’ ‘’The duty of the courts is to maintain a balance between ensuring that law and order is obeyed and the protection of the individual from oppressive actions by the executive. ‘’By the forcible abduction and extraordinary rendition of the Appellant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) from Kenya to this country on the 27th day of June 2021, in violation of international and state laws, the lower court or, indeed, any court in this country is divested of jurisdiction to entertain charges against the Appellant’. ‘’Despite the clarity of this judgment and its comportment with reason, the federal government refused to release me from detention while it went behind closed doors and connived with three other justices of the court of appeal who fraudulently and swiftly sat on appeal over the judgment and practically destroyed it by issuing what they termed ‘a stay of execution’. ‘’One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed? In a plethora of cases, the Supreme Court has held that anybody who disobeys a related court order cannot be given any judicial relief until such order is obeyed. ‘’This is a sound reasoning that applied to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case. Fast forward to 15th December 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial. ‘’For avoidance of doubt, that was not the only decision the Supreme Court made. It also decided that my bail should not have been revoked and it went on to state clearly that the judge exhibited significant and unacceptable bias by revoking my bail. ‘’In a sane society, one would expect that when the High court received my case from the Supreme Court and hankered down for trial, it was also duty-bound to restore my bail in line with the pronouncement of the apex court. ‘’But that did not happen. Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine and that is: the Court connived with the federal government to continue my detention in violation of Section 287 of the Nigerian Constitution. ‘’On September 24, 2024, I decided that I have had enough of taking my chances at getting justice from a judge that, in June 2021, sent me to secret police detention without fair hearing, later refused to transfer me to prison to better prepare for my trial and capped it all by refusing to restore my bail and instead ordering an accelerated trial in the face of the reality that I will never get a fair trial whilst detained at the DSS. ‘’These are the major reasons that compelled me to request recusal of the judge and having consented to it, she proceeded to make an order removing herself from my case. That order was never challenged on appeal; thus it remains extant to this day. ‘’But instead of the Chief judge of the Federal High Court to do the lawful thing by assigning my case to another judge, he connived with the federal government to eat crow and send my case to a judge that stands recused by a valid order. ‘’To conclude this open letter, let me make it clear that it should in no way be construed to mean that there are no decent judges in Nigeria that can be trusted to deliver even-handed justice in my case. That is not the issue. ‘’Instead, the issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to doing justice, even when it means that the federal government must lose. ‘’Be that as it may, if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it. But let me say this for the world to know: I will not succumb to any trial conducted by any judge or court whose jurisdiction does not pass constitutional muster. Not now, not ever.’’

Nnamdi Kanu

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu

NNEWI——– THE Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has told the Federal government and the Nigerian Army that it can no longer be blackmailed with Monday weekly sit-at-home because the whole Nigerians and the world knows that it has no hand in its continued observation by Ndigbo.

IPoB urged the Federal government to release its leader Nnamdi Kanu if it wants the Monday weekly sit-at-home to stop, saying it is now a protest by Ndigbo against the continued illegal and malicious detention of Mazi Kanu, who is now being used as a pawn against Ndigbo.

The pro-Biafra group in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful entitled “Do not blackmail IPoB with Monday weekly sit-at-home, instead free Nnamdi Kanu”, said that Monday weekly sit-home is no more IPoB issue but a protest by Ndigbo against the illegal and malicious detention of Mazi Kanu.

IPoB statement read, “The noble family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, worldwide wish to categorically notify the Nigerian military and the Nigerian government that they can not blackmail IPoB and Eastern Security Network, ESN with Monday sit-at-home because we are a disciplined self-determination movement and has for long disassociated itself from Monday weekly sit-at-home.

“IPoB members and ESN operatives are disciplined freedom-fighting volunteers fighting for survival. IPoB and ESN are the reasons that the state-sponsored terrorists have not turned Biafra land into a mass grave. ESN operatives are the reason why Ndigbo still goes to their farm to date.

“ESN operatives are paying a heavy price in curtailing the activities of terrorists masquerading as herdsmen. The reason that the Nigerian government and her military are targeting and blackmailing ESN daily is to destroy all the defence lines of Biafrans. ESN remains the last defence for Ndigbo.

“Nigerian Army has not defended any indigenous tribe in Nigeria against the state-sponsored foreign Fulani terrorists let alone defending Ndigbo that they wish should be exterminated. Any Igbo person falling for the Nigerian government’s blackmail against IPoB and ESN is a fool who hasn’t understood the level of hatred that the Nigerian State has against Biafran people.

“To the Nigerian government, IPoB and ESN are big obstacles to their extermination and displacement plan against Ndigbo from our ancestral lands. No matter the level of attack, blackmail and extrajudicial executions, and disappearances caused by the Nigerian government against Ndigbo, IPoB remains committed towards safeguarding our land and the self-determination and independence efforts.

“The Nigerian military boasted of demarketing IPoB, and to make Ndigbo hate the movement using the infamous Monday sit-at-home, which the military and Police themselves helped to enforce. Before now, the Nigerian Army and Police patrol around some rural communities in the South East on Mondays, arresting youths seen on the road, thereby helping to enforce sit-at-home.

“The Nigerian government recruited the soulless criminals called Autopiloters to impersonate IPoB and ESN to kill and destroy our people and our people’s properties on Mondays in the name of enforcing the sit-at-home IPoB, already suspended. It was a covert operation between the Nigerian government and the agent provocateurs.

Related News

“Their agenda is to use the Monday sit-at-home to convince Ndigbo that IPoB is destroying their economy, but today Ndigbo have known the truth about their humiliation and maltreatment of their people and are now using Monday weekly sit-at-home to protest against injustices against them, particularly the continued malicious and illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“IPoB initiated and suspended Monday sit-at-home after its first successful compliance. We have constantly condemned the violent enforcement of the sit-at-home, which the Nigerian Army and Police are part of. Since the buffoon in Finland was arrested by the Finnish authorities, the criminals enforcing sit-at-home have gone into hiding.

“That is to tell you that the sit-at-home enforcers were recruited to commit crimes with the name of Biafra and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Nevertheless, IPoB commends Ndigbo, who voluntarily chose to sit at home on Mondays in solidarity with our illegally abducted and detained leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s plight.

“IPoB are the people, and people are IPoB. There is no strategy that the Nigerian government will adopt to make Ndigbo reject themselves. Telling Ndigbo to reject IPoB and embrace the Nigerian Army is like telling people to reject their saviour and to embarrass their killers.

“The Nigerian Army should discard the idea of destroying, IPoB, using bullets and blackmail because that is mission impossible. IPoB is rooted in a strong ideology of survival. The more Nigeria rejects and oppresses Ndigbo, the more the IPoB ideology is fueled.

Nigeria has rejected Ndigbo politically, socially, and economically, and Ndigbo has rejected Nigeria in our souls and spirits. To us, Nigeria has ceased to exist, but only for a time.

“The Nigerian military has shown their incapability of protecting Nigerians from terrorists who have taken over some local governments in Northern Nigeria. They are in the Eastern region to create artificial insecurity and to extort Ndigbo.

“How can a professional military occupy themselves with the obsession of ending a voluntary sit-at-home, which is a non-violent civil action instead of facing the rampaging terrorists ravaging the country? Only a weak military will preoccupy themselves with civil matters while leaving terrorism to thrive.

“The Nigerian Army should leave IPoB, ESN and our territory alone. The insecurity in the South East is an artificial one sponsored by the Nigerian State, who recruited criminals to destabilise the region but have failed. IPoB and ESN stand for Biafrans and remain the last line of defence for Ndigbo against the rampaging radical Islamic extremists in their conquest mission in Nigeria.

“The Nigerian Army is working with the radical extremists to destroy Biafra’s line of defence which is IPoB in order to pave the way for the terrorists to massacre Ndigbo and occupy our land like they have done in many parts of the Northern region.

“After the genocidal war against Ndigbo by the British and Nigerian governments. Ndigbo never had any group that is determined and courageous like IPoB and ESN. Ndigbo can’t miss the golden opportunity to support IPoB to restore our dignity as children of light, children of Chukwu Okike Abiama. A strong movement like IPoB comes once in many generations.

The Nigerian government, her military, and South East Governors and politicians should focus on addressing the issues that are responsible for the Monday sit-at-home, which is the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and a call for Biafra Referendum.

“The use of intimidation and bullying people to force them out on Mondays is a cruel tactic. Will the Nigerian Army go to the people’s houses to force them out on Mondays in order to end the sit-at-home?
The answer is NO. Any responsible government would engage in dialogue and superior arguments to win the trust of citizens, but in Nigeria everything is by military intimidation and force.

“Ndigbo love Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and have chosen to sit at home on Mondays in solidarity with him. Igbo Governors and the Nigerian government should toe the line of wisdom and release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and the Monday sit-at-home will immediately stop. Blackmailing IPoB and ESN with Monday sit-at-home is a strategy that is dead on arrival.”

Disclaimer

Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.