IPOB ordered residents of the zone to stay indoors in their interest and safety. Security operatives in the zone had at several times warned the pro-Biafra secessionists to desist from their planned action, stressing that the group remained proscribed.
Speaking with journalists after a meeting of security operatives in the state, comprising the army, police, civil defence, immigration, Department of State Services, among others, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar, described IPOB as an illegal organisation that had no right of protest under any Nigerian law.
Umar said, “IPOB is an illegal organisation. We are therefore appealing to members of the public that on no account should they be intimidated or harassed into succumbing to the threat of IPOB.
“They plan to embark on a sit-at-home on September 14, but the security agencies are ready for any eventuality. We urge members of the public to go about their lawful businesses as they will be adequately protected.
“We are ready and we have all it takes to keep the peace in this state. Anambra State has been enjoying relative peace and we will never relax in providing adequate security in this state.”
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Umar stated that he was in touch with all security agencies, including the military, adding that they would not allow anybody to truncate democracy and the peaceful atmosphere.
Also, the Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi, warned members of IPOB not to dare the law by disrupting public peace in the state.
He urged Abia residents to go about their normal business without any fear of intimidation from any group or persons in the state.
But in a statement by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Thursday, the group insisted that the protest must hold.
It said, “Operation Python Dance Three has started with deadly shootings in Anambra, illegal arrests and abductions in Enugu and Aba. To stay safe and alive, people must remain indoors because the Fulani caliphate Nigerian army and police will kill anybody they see outside this Friday.
“We, IPOB, wish to inform the treacherous South-East governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo and the so-called Biafra Coalition that hosted and entertained the Biafra hater, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, in Owerri recently that their attempt to use coordinated scare tactics through media statements to intimidate the people of Biafra into disobeying IPOB is a well-known trick that will fail woefully.
“We call on all Biafrans to pass a vote of no confidence in South-East governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo and PANDEF (Pan Niger Delta Forum) by sitting at home as ordered by the IPOB High Command.”
