News Update
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has announced the total and permanent cancellation of the Monday sit-at-home across the South-East, saying the directive takes immediate effect from Monday, February 9, 2026.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB said the order came directly from its ‘supreme leader’, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The statement said, “The Monday sit-at-home across the South-East is officially and permanently cancelled with effect from tomorrow, Monday, February 9, 2026.”
IPOB said Kanu took the decision to ensure that normal life returns to the South-East.
According to the statement, Kanu has “once again staked everything on the line to ensure that our children return to school every Monday and that our people go about their lawful businesses without fear, intimidation, or molestation”.
“Any person in doubt should visit Sokoto Correctional Centre to confirm with him. We can no longer hide under ‘Onyendu cannot be reached to confirm’ to persist with our recalcitrance or docility. Monday sit-at-home is over. That era is gone!,” the statement added.
IPOB stressed that there was “no need, excuse, or justification for anyone to stay at home on Mondays,” directing that “all markets, schools, offices, transport services, and economic activities must resume fully and normally from tomorrow”.
Describing the directive as final, the statement said, “This is the clear and unequivocal order of the Supreme Leader of IPOB.”
The statement also warned against any attempt to enforce sit-at-home going forward. IPOB said Kanu had made it “abundantly clear that any individual or group attempting to enforce sit-at-home from this moment forward is acting against his direct command”.
“Such persons are enemies of our people and the Biafran cause. They will be pursued to the ends of the earth and confronted until they are completely defeated.”
IPOB further claimed that “enemies of Biafra may attempt false-flag operations designed to create fear, stage attacks, or intimidate our people into staying indoors,” warning that “any person or group identified as enforcing or enabling sit-at-home will be confronted wherever they are”.
The group in the same vein urged residents of the South-East to remain “vigilant, calm, and law-abiding”.
However, IPOB cautioned state governments against taking action against traders who may still choose to stay at home.
The group said, “No state governor has the right to threaten, demolish, or forcibly shut down the businesses of traders who, out of conscience, choose to sit at home in solidarity with our leader.”
It specifically warned that “any attempt by Governor Soludo or any other governor to intimidate our people with demolition threats or forced market closures will be firmly resisted”.
On market development projects, IPOB stated that “any renovation, reconstruction, or improvement of markets that involves temporary relocation must be carried out only with the consent of all stakeholders,” adding that “adequate temporary trading sites must be provided before any such projects commence.”
Calling for unity, the IPOB said, “Our enemies have in the past succeeded in instigating crises and planting seeds of discord among our people. We must not allow them to succeed again. We are one people, united by a common destiny.”
IPOB equally urged residents to resume normal activities, saying, “We therefore call on all our people across the South-East to come out tomorrow, open their shops, go to work, and send their children to school without fear.
“The era of Monday sit-at-home is over.”
Earlier on Saturday, in a viral video, an IPOB group headed by Igwe Butuzo and Gentle De Yahoo also announced the cancellation of Monday sit-at-home.
“This information is coming from the Triple General, General Igwe Butuzo, General De Yahoo, and all the forty state commanders in Biafraland.
“As the information reaching my table to inform Biafrans, an order from the highest command of the Biafran restoration movement, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi, has reached us that the Monday sit-at-home is cancelled from today. Last Monday’s sit-at-home was a one-off implemented due to Soludo’s stupidity and will not happen again,” the IPOB group said in the viral video.
Speaking on the development, Aloy Ejimakor, legal consultant to Nnamdi Kanu, said Nnamdi Kanu has since 2024 called for the cancellation of the civil disobedience in his honor.
“In July 2024, he had given me written instructions, which were widely published, if you recall, he said.
“He said that the sit-at-home be cancelled, but it persisted. It wasn’t very successful; I was threatened and all kinds of things happened, and some people, a lot of people, were opposed to it, and all that.
“So Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had always, at least from July 2024, almost two years ago, or one year and eight or nine months ago, been on the record, publicly, that this Monday sit-at-home be discontinued.
“And he also was and has always been against any attempt by any group of people to attempt to enforce it.
“So that’s it; that position has never changed. So if anybody comes up and says they are cancelling the sit-at-home, the Monday sit-at-home in Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s name, that person is not speaking out of tune.
“But my assumption is that that video is based on that instruction he had given in July 2024. I don’t think anybody can say that it’s inaccurate,” Ejimakor said.