Monday sit-at-home peaceful civil protest, not a crime, IPOB tells Soludo

The Indigenous People of Biafra has insisted that the Monday sit-at-home is not a crime but a legal, peaceful civil protest, describing it as a symbolic act of solidarity with its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The pro-Biafran group stated this in a press statement released by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, on Sunday.

Powerful was reacting to a call by the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who threatened to sanction any teaching and non-teaching staff who fail to report for work on Mondays.

Recall that the Anambra State Government also said it would begin implementing pro-rata salary payments for workers across the state as part of efforts to end the Monday sit-at-home, adding that effective February 2026, salaries of civil servants in the state would be paid on a pro-rata basis.

Reacting to the development, IPOB said the state’s move to turn a peaceful protest into punishable misconduct amounted to a declaration of war on the people’s dignity.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the IPOB and all lovers of justice has been drawn to the reported threat by Governor Chukwuma Soludo to penalise and intimidate citizens who choose to remain indoors on Mondays as a symbolic act of solidarity with our leader, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is being unlawfully detained by enemies of the Igbo race and the Biafra restoration project which he leads.

“Let it be stated clearly and without ambiguity: Anambra is not a military barracks. The people are not tenants in their own land. No governor has the lawful power to compel free citizens to open their businesses or move about against their will, especially when their action is a peaceful, non-violent expression of conscience.

“Monday sit-at-home is civil disobedience, not terrorism. If businessmen, traders, students, professionals, elders and youths voluntarily choose to sit at home on Mondays as a silent protest against the continued detention and persecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, that is their right. It is not a crime. It is not rebellion. It is not an offence.”

IPOB argued that a government that turns peaceful protest into punishable misconduct is simply declaring war on the people’s dignity.

It said, “The frustration in Igboland is deep. The anger is justified. The pain is historic. And the Monday sit-at-home is a token expression of that collective burden.

“But instead of confronting the injustice that fuels agitation, the governor has chosen the weak and disgraceful route of harassing his own people — to be seen as ‘loyal’ by Abuja power brokers who have shown nothing but contempt for Igbo lives and Igbo dignity.

“When criminal violence is tolerated elsewhere, and killers are pampered, negotiated with, and incentivised under ‘rehabilitation’, it is a tragedy that an Igbo governor would devote his energy to threatening traders, punishing youths, and blackmailing citizens for choosing to stay in their homes peacefully.”

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According to the group, if Soludo proceeds to establish any task force, enforcement squad or vigilante-style unit to coerce citizens into opening shops through threats, extortion, harassment, arrests or intimidation, “then he has crossed a red line”.

“We do not force people to sit at home. But no government will force them to go out. The sit-at-home is voluntary. It is a choice. It is a personal and collective statement of solidarity. People who stay home on Mondays do so because they believe sacrifice is part of the struggle for justice and freedom.

“This is Igboland. We have honour. We have dignity. We understand history. We understand what oppression looks like. We understand what freedom costs.

“The solution is not threats. The solution is justice. The solution is the release of Mazi Kanu, who is the symbol of our freedom and hope. Until that injustice is addressed, every Monday will remain a day of silent protest — not by decree, not by violence, but by conscience,” he added.

The group therefore urged Soludo, “in his own interest, to stop threatening Ndi Anambra and Ndi Igbo. The people are not his enemies. His duty is to protect them, not punish them; to lead them, not provoke them; to serve them, not subjugate them.

“Let him not start what he cannot finish, because history has never been kind to leaders who attack their own people to impress external masters,” the statement concluded.

ValidViewNetwork had earlier reported that the Anambra State Government said it would begin pro-rata salary payments for workers across the state as part of efforts to end the Monday sit-at-home, adding that effective February 2026, salaries of civil servants in the state would be paid on a pro-rata basis.

The state Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, disclosed this to journalists in Awka on Saturday, adding that the decision was reached during the end-of-tenure retreat of the Anambra State Executive Council held in Awka.