By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Confusion on Sunday shrouded the sit-at-home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) following contradictory directives by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful and Kalunta, the younger brother of detained IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

While Powerful released a statement saying that the Monday sit-at-home order was sacrosanct, Kanunta Kanu countered with a statement cancelling the exercise.

According to Kanunta, the cancellation was to enable people taking the National Examination Council Exam (NECO) to take part in the exam.

He said a new date for the commencement of the sit-at-home order to protest his brother’s detention would be announced later.

Kanunta Kanu said the group arrived at the decision after listening to pleas from well-meaning individuals and groups within and outside Biafra land that the order be suspended to allow students from Igbo land to participate in the NECO Exam.

The statement reads: “IPOB has listened to pleas from well-meaning individuals and groups within and outside Biafra land that we consider the fate of our children who will be involved in the NECO Exam and based on that, we decided to shift grounds over the sit-at-home order.

“IPOB having realized the academic deprivation the already marginalized Biafra students who entered for this year’s NECO would suffer, decided to suspend the sit-at-home order to a later date, to allow the students take their exams.

“Allowing the sit-at-home to go ahead as earlier announced, in the face of the NECO Exam would amount to assisting enemies of Biafra to inflict more injuries on her children.

“As a group fighting for the liberation of her people from oppression from her enemies, we realized that it would amount to assisting the said enemies to inflict more harm on our children if we do not suspend the sit-at-home order to allow Biafra students take their exams.”

He noted that the sit-at-home order has not been cancelled, but only suspended for the sake of Biafra students taking this year’s NECO Exam.

The statement called on all IPOB global family members and Biafrans at large to await further directives in this regard.

However, reacting to Kalunta’s statement, Powerful told News Express on Sunday evening: “Emma Powerful is the recognised IPOB spokesperson; any other person doing so is doing it for personal gain and anybody who ventures to come out tomorrow will regret coming out tomorrow. Nobody should interfere into affairs of a well-structured and respected movement like IPOB.”

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