Lawyer Urges Southeast to Disregard “Fake” Sit-At-Home Order

A lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has called on residents of Nigeria’s Southeast to ignore a circulating sit-at-home order reportedly issued by a faction of the group for Monday, February 2, 2026.

The order, attributed to IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful, had called for a total shutdown across the region. It was framed as a protest against the one-week closure of the Onitsha Main Market ordered by Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

In a counter-statement on Saturday, Ejiofor dismissed the directive as “fake” and a “calculated falsehood.” He asserted that the peaceful global IPOB movement has formally disowned the order and urged people to go about their normal activities without fear.

Ejiofor claimed that the platform operating under the name “Emma Powerful” has been “fatally compromised” and hijacked by interests that “thrive on fear, disruption, and extortion.”

“Upon careful inquiry and diligent verification… it became glaringly obvious that the so-called ‘Emma Powerful’ platform has been hijacked by vested interests,” the statement read.

The lawyer warned that the publication of such orders risks inviting violence and criminal infiltration, especially as relative peace returns to the region. He advised the public to treat any future publication from the compromised source with “extreme suspicion, if not outright contempt.”

Ejiofor concluded that the platform, in its current state, has positioned itself as “an adversary to Ala-Igbo’s peace, progress, and collective well-being.”