Abia State government has advised its citizens to disregard the sit- at- home order in the South East on June 8 by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.
This is as Enugu State Police Command has enjoined citizens of the state to be law-abiding and also go about their normal lawful businesses on that day.
It would be recalled that MASSOB recently issued a warning directing people to sit at home on May 8 to commemorate the death of the six Igbo traders killed by the police in Abuja few years back otherwise known as ‘Apo Six’, and also Igbo victims of the Boko Haram violence.
MASSOB warned that its men would move round to ensure compliance on that day.
In a statement signed by the regional administrators of the movement in Afikpo North and Afipko South in Ebonyi State, Uchenna Madu and Ogbonnaya Nnachi respectively, the group noted that June 8 has also been declared a Biafra public holiday to mark the event.
Chief Press Secretary to Governor Theodore Orji, Ugochukwu Emezue, in a statement made available to Nigerian Pilot, warned MASSOB members to stay off Abia State to avoid bloodshed as security agencies have been placed on red alert to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, Igbo youths on the aegis of Association of Igbo Youths Organisation, AIYO, have in Awka, Anambra State capital, protested the sit- at- home directive by MASSOB, stressing that the directive would further cripple the economy of the South Eastern states, as” Igbos, according to AIYO, “had suffered so much that they did not want MASSOB to continue to make life more difficult for them.”