- IPOB issued a statement, warning against violating May 30, sit-at-home order by any South Easterners to honour their dead heroes and heroines
- Enugu state govt frowned at the order, issued counter order asking citizens to go about their lawful duties
- Few hours later, unknown gun men struck, killing 2 persons, destroying vehicles, tricycles at Ibagwa-Aka in Igbo-Eze south LGA of the state
On May 21, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB issued a statement, warning the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, UNIZIK Awka, Anambra State Prof. Charles Esimone, and West African Examination Council, WAEC to postpone the convocation ceremony of the University and WAEC exam scheduled for May 30th respectively.
IPoB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, entitled “Nnamdi Azikiwe University VC and WAEC Board to postpone 30th May Convocation and WAEC on that day,” said Prof. Esimone ought to know that 30th of May every year is Biafra Heroes Day and should not fix any programs of his University on that day, just as WAEC should have known that that day is sacrosanct to all Igbo men and women.
IPoB’s statement reads, “Dear Professor Charles Okechukwu Esimone Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, UNIZIK Anambra State. The attention of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, led by our indomitable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to your proposed University’s Convocation date of 30th May, 2024 and the WAEC examinations for the same day.
“We urge you to kindly reschedule your convocation and exams to a new date because 30th of May, is the Biafra Heroes Day and a sit-at-home for all Biafrans in the Biafra land.
“Dear VC Esimone, if you consider yourself a Biafra, you ought to know that 30th of May is a Biafra Heroes day. And WAEC board members, Biafra Heroes day is sacrosanct to Ndigbo, you dare not fix your exam on that day if you have respect for Igbo race.
“Nevertheless, we are reminding you and the UNIZIK University Management and WAEC board that May 30 of every year is a sacred day set aside to honour Biafra heroes and heroines who paid the ultimate prize and sacrifice for the survival of Biafrans.
“That day remains sacred and a day that Biafrans sit-at-home to remember and honour our heroes who fell during the Nigerian genocidal war against Biafrans between 1967 to 1970.
“Even until the present day the killing has not stopped. No public event is expected to take place in Biafra land on this day. Biafra Heroes day is a public holiday and a sit-at-home in Biafra land for Biafrans in honor of our fallen heroes and heroines. All markets, schools, banks, government and private offices are expected to be under lock and key.
“Movement of persons and vehicles are not allowed except those on essential or emergency services such as Journalists, health workers, Ambulance, Fire Service, Filling stations and Hospitals etc.
“West African examination Council, WAEC, board should not endanger the lives of small children because that day is not safe for any individual in Biafra territory, it is a day everybody stays indoors for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to live and they must reschedule the date to another day. 30th of May is a Biafran remembrance day.
“If anything happens to those children they want to bring out that day they will regret doing so. By this open letter, to you IPoB is calling on the Vice Chancellor and the Management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, UNIZIK, Awka, WAEC and any other person or group that scheduled any program for 30th May, 2024, to postpone such program. Biafra Heroes Day takes precedence over any program in Biafra land on that day.
“However, if the Vice Chancellor and the Management of UNIZIK insist on having their Convocation on 30th May, 2024 in disregard of Biafra fallen heroes and heroines, they have decided to spit on the graves of Biafra heroes and heroines and should be ready to take responsibility for whatever happens afterwards.
“IPoB will not enforce the 30th May sit-at-home, but will also not take responsibility for whatever happens to the violators on that day. The Management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University must not provoke IPoB.
“We do not take it kindly with people desecrating the memory of our heroes and heroines. IPOB calls on the students, the parents, the guests, and visitors to UNIZIK’s Convocation ceremony and those for WAEC exams scheduled for May 30th to apply caution and avoid being on the road the day Biafrans are mourning their dead.
“If the University goes ahead with the plans. Safety is an individual responsibility. Don’t endanger yourself for an hour-long ceremony. In the past, Nigeria security forces and their collaborators have killed and set some cars of those found on the road ablaze any time IPoB calls for sit-at-home, just to blackmail IPoB. Don’t be a victim.
“IPoB is therefore, warning all the persons and institutions paid to insult and desecrate the memories of our fallen heroes that their sponsors will not be there to save them when the rain starts falling on them.
“Those that have sabotaged their stock in trade will be collectively and individually held to account for their evil.
“IPOB is not a Umunna meeting or community meeting to be toyed with. As much as we care we also bite. UNIZIK Management and WAEC board should be warned.”
Enugu state government reacts to IPOB release
However, in response to this release, the Enugu state government issued a statement, warning all it’s civil servants to disregard IPOB order, warning that May 30, 2024 is not a public holiday.
The government expressed its displeasure over what it described as an attempt to scuttle the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination in the state.
The government said the consequences of candidates of the state and the entire South East region not sitting for their General Mathematics papers were massive.
The state made this statement in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Aka Eze Aka, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, urging candidates and those involved in the conduct of the examination and other enterprises to go about their legitimate businesses, as the state had taken steps to ensure adequate security of lives and property.
This was also as the state’s Head of Service, Ken Ugwu, had earlier, in a circular dated Tuesday, May 28, 2024, clarified that there would be no public holiday on May 30, 2024, warning civil servants and political appointees that failure to report to work would attract severe sanctions.
The statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communication reads: “The Enugu State Government notes with deep concern the statement credited to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IBOB) directing the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to postpone the General Mathematics (Theory and Objectives) examinations scheduled for Thursday, May 30, 2024, which the IPOB had designated ‘Biafra Heroes Day.’
“We note with particular concern IPOB’s statement that ‘WAEC board should not endanger the lives of small children because that day is not safe for any individual in Biafra territory.’
“This is unacceptable to us, not only because of the well-known position of the Enugu State Government on illegal sit-at-home orders, which have dealt a great blow on the socio-economic life and fortunes of the South East region, but also because of the far-reaching consequences of a whole generation of Enugu children failing to sit for a fundamental subject such as Mathematics in one year.
“Let no one make a mistake about it, Ndigbo excel on the wings of industry, education and human capital development. Therefore, any pronouncement or action that tends to deny our children their rights to education, which is their ticket to the future, is offensive to our sensibilities and surely the sensibilities of our founding fathers and fallen heroes, who must be turning in their graves, wondering what could have happened to us as a people. Moreso, when many of the architects of such unjust and evil agenda live in the comfort of civilised societies where they go to work and their children go to school every workday.
“The Enugu State Government recognises the sacrifices of our gallant forebears, who gave their all, including their lives, to defend the Igbo land. But we also recognise that they died that we may not just have life, but to have the best of it, which can only come from developing our human capital to be able to excel in all that we do as individuals and collectively as a people.
The government will not sit by and watch the future of our children aborted by such ill-conceived pronouncement intended to keep them at home. WAEC, as the name implies, is a regional body organising SSCE, not just in Nigeria, but also across West Africa. The subregion will certainly not wait for us.
“The Enugu State Government, therefore, enjoins candidates sitting for the ongoing SSCE in Enugu State to feel free to go to their respective centres to sit for their papers on Thursday, May 30, 2024, without any fears, while the officials involved in the conduct of the examination should also go about their legitimate duties without apprehension.
“As underscored at the beginning of this administration, no one has the right to impose any illegal and involuntary restriction of movement or business activities on anybody within the territory of Enugu State. Such will be met with the full weight of the law.
“Consequently, the government has put the security agencies on red alert to ensure security of lives and property and also deal, according to the laws of the land, with anyone or group bent on scuttling the SSCE scheduled for May 30, 2024 or causing a breach of peace and security of any type.
Meanwhile, in a circular entitled “Clarification on Attendance to Duty on Thursday 30th May, 2024” issued on Tuesday, the state’s Head of Service, Mr. Ugwu, said: “It has become expedient to clarify that the State Government has not declared Thursday, 30th May, 2024 as a public holiday or sit-at-home day contrary to misconceptions from some quarters.
“May I, therefore, remind our workers that failure to be in their duty posts on the above date will attract summary dismissal from Service in line with the enabling provisions of the Public Service Rules.
“It must be noted that such purported public holiday/sit-at-home will have far-reaching consequences on the academic pursuit of our children, who are taking part in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations holding simultaneously across the nation, including the South Eastem region.
“Enugu State Govemment strongly frowns at any calculated attempt to mortgage the future of our children and has, therefore, put in place necessary security arrangements to guarantee the safety and unrestricted movement of all citizens and residents within the State.
“All Permanent Secretaries, Directors of Administration, Heads of Departments, and agencies of Government are directed to take a roll call of all those who came to work and return the same to the Office of the Head of Service before 11 am on Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
“To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”
Attack on Enugu market
In any case, few hours after the release, unknown gun men struck in one of the biggest markets in the state, setting tricycles and bus ablaze.
Nkwo Ibagwa-Aka in Igbo-Eze South local government area of the state was attacked at about 12pm on Wednesday.
According to an eye witness who spoke to WITHIN NIGERIA, the hoodlums stormed the market at the peak of market activities, set a bus and two tricycles ablaze.
An eye witness told our reporter that ” today was a horrible day in Nkwo Ibagwa-Aka in Igbo-Eze South local government area. We were inside the market when we heard the sound of gunshots. Markets women starting running helter skelter. We ran inside one shop for safety.”
Narrating further, the source said that ” few minutes later, we started seeing people running to the scene of the attack and when we went there, we saw that two Keke tricycles and a bus have been set ablaze by these hoodlums.
” Two persons were also said to have lost their life to this unfortunate incident through stray bullets.”
According to yet another eye witness, Brendan Ezugwu who works with a firm in the market, ” I was my office when we started seeing people running helter skelter towards our office. There was also an eruption of gun shots. I was confused and didn’t know what to do. In the midst of that confusion, I closed the entrance door of our office and ran out to another building.”
Explaining further, Mr. Ezugwu said that ” few minutes later, I saw the hoodlums, wielding AK-47 riffle on Lexus jeep and shooting in the air. When they got to our office, one of them shot our official car parked in front of our office. But fortunately, the bullets hit the wheel of the tyre and couldn’t go further.
” As they were riding, the jeep fell inside gutter and couldn’t come out. They snatched a sienna car from another motorist and zoomed off. It was after about two hours after they had left that we saw policemen and military men parading the market and environs.
“We hurriedly closed our office, few hours after they have left.”
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered the police is yet to release an official statement with regards to the recent attack at Ibagwa-Aka market even as the Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu police command, Daniel Ndukwe could not pick his calls by our reporter.
Following this attack on Ibagwa-Aka and subsequent killing of two persons, South East zone has once again been thrown into fear and anxiety.
WITHIN NIGERIA investigations showed that for months now, there has not been open attacks by unknown on markets, vehicles and other private or public property, a situation some persons assumed that unknown gun men no longer exist in the zone.