By Emma Ogbuehi
There was palpable excitement in the five states of the South East following the arraignment of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja, on Thursday.
Though the IPOB leader was yet to be freed, the euphoria in his region of birth, was that with his appearance in court, the zone had been saved the trauma of a one-month shutdown earlier threatened by the organisation in the event of the Department of State Services (DSS), failing to produce him for trial.
Following the failure of the DSS to produce Kanu for trial in the last court session, IPOB had in a release by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, threatened that “If the Federal Government refuses to bring him to court in his next court appearance on October 21, 2021, the entire Biafra land will be on total lockdown for one month”.
Though the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had kicked against the threat, fear had gripped residents and indigenes of the South East on IPOB carrying it out. The weekly Monday sit-at-home exercise imposed on the region, is already taking tolls on its economy, with an estimated 19 billion lost every week the directive was carried out. Extending the measure to 30 days, was considered an over-kill by the people.
Respondents who spoke with our correspondents, enthused that with Kanu’s arraignment, they can now go about their normal businesses. “It is good that he was brought to the court. At least, we have seen that he is alive. The next thing is to ensure that he is granted bail and eventually freed. But so far, we can at least attend to our businesses. The one-month shutdown would have been very hard on us, a trader, Charlie Udeh, told our reporter on phone.
A Lagos-based freight forwarder who pleaded anonymity was also excited with Kanu’s arraignment, praying that with the turn of events, the climate of uncertainty and insecurity in the south east will come down.
