There are heightened fears in the South-East following the threat by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra,MASSOB,and the Indigenous People of Biafra,IPOB, to, from Sunday,lock down the region in protests over the continued detention of Radio Biafra Director,Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu, who was arrested by the Department of State Security,DSS, on October 17,2015, on arrival from the United Kingdom, has been in DSS detention facility in Abuja since October 17,2015 when he was arrested by the EFCC even though the Magistrate Court,Wuse 11,and Federal High Court,Abuja Division had both granted him bail and ordered his release.
In a statement by the MASSOB National Director of Information, Samuel Edeson, and IPOB Secretary,Ibem Ugwuoke Ibem, Saturday,the pro-Biafra groups warned the public to stay at home from tomorrow(Monday) as there will be massive civil disobedience,protests and demonstrations in the South-East and parts of the South-South to force the Federal Government to comply with the court orders.
In a counter motion, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has ordered security operatives to arrest any pro-Biafra element flouting the ban against secessionist protests in any part of the state.
The governor gave the order in a statement by his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, Sunday.
He said government will not tolerate any form of pro-Biafra protest in any part of Rivers. Tam-George said the governor had to reiterate the ban on pro-Biafra protests in the state following reports that some agitators were embarking on illegal separatist processions and demonstrations in parts of Oyigbo local government area.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
