SECURITYSit-at-home: Gani Adams issues strong warning to IPOB factional leader, Simon Ekpa

Innocent Okafor

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has warned factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, to stop plans to stage in Lagos State, the sit-at-home protest currently being en- forced in the South East to press the Federal Government for the release of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
Aare Onakakanfo Adams cautioned IPOB against con- templating such a move or at- tempt to impose IPOB agenda on Lagos or any other part of the South West because the region is not Biafra Republic.

Reports had quoted Ekpa as hinting in a tweet on Wednesday of plans by IPOB to repli- cate the sit-at-home in Lagos.

Ekpa was quoted as saying that: “Biafrans in Lagos should get ready to be part of the demand to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We are coming to Lagos after the two-week-long sit at home.

“It is time to show your solidarity to this call for justice. Biafrans in Lagos will lock down. The consultation will start soon,” his tweet reportedly read in part.

Ekpa had on Tuesday announced that there would be a two-week sit-at-home in the South East.

But Adams, reacting to Ekpa’s pronouncement in a telephone interview with Saturday Tribune, cautioned the Finnish-based ethnic propagandist to desist from “repeating the mistake of the 1970s,” and drop the move which he described as uncalled-for and counterproductive.
The Aare Ona Kakanfo emphasised that the South-West is not part of “their Biafra” Republic and as such, it was preposterous for “outsiders to dictate or impose their agenda on people of other regions whom they cohabit with as residents.”

He said: “I can’t go to the South East now and say I want to decide for the people of that region. So, it is not possible to import South- East agenda into Yorubaland. It would be coun- terproductive. We advise him (Ekpa) to drop that idea.
“He should not try that. The South West is not Biafra Re- public. Any attempt to impose Biafra Republic agenda will be resisted. He should desist from repeating the mistake of the 1970s. He should be very, very careful.
“They are entitled to their opinion, but South West is not their Biafran region. He should be very, very careful.
“He should not come and impose his own agenda on the South West. It is uncalled-for, it is unwarranted. Although I don’t know him and I have not spoken to him, he should not bring unnecessary tension to Yorubaland. We will not accept that.”
The Aare Onakakanfo reiterated the position of the South West that Nigeria should be re- structured into true federalism whereby each of the federating units would be allowed to develop at their own pace.
He said: “Our position is true federalism, that is, the restructuring of Nigeria into regions, for the regions to develop at their own pace.
Ekpa, in issuing a fresh threat of another lockdown, had reportedly said the sit-at-home was to demand “the immediate and unconditional release of IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who remains illegally detained at the DSS dungeon.”
He said: “Following the demand by the Biafra people for more sit-at-home civil disobedience, the Biafra Republic Government In-Exile (BRGIE) and Biafra De Facto Government in Homeland wish to notify Biafrans that there will be a sit-at-home civil disobedience starting from 31 July, 2023 to 14 August, 2023.”
He said the protest was also in preparation for “Biafra’s self-referendum” and to put the world on notice that “Biafrans” were taking their future in their own hands.
The IPOB factional leader added that the sit-at- home would be observed “to invalidate the illegitimacy of those who parade themselves as Nigeria’s representatives within Biafran territory.”
The fresh sit-at-home order came on the heels of South East political leaders’ closed- door meeting where they resolved to seek audience with President Bola Tinubu on the security situation in the region.