The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have said that the Monday sit-at-home in the South-East will halt right now and for good. This ends a protest that has been going on for almost five years and has hurt social and economic life in the area.
Emma Powerful, a spokesperson for IPOB, claimed in a statement yesterday that the group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is now in jail, gave the order. He told people to go back to their normal lives, open businesses, and send their kids back to school without fear.
Kanu added in the statement that there is “no longer any justification” for the sit-at-home and that regular life needs to be fully restored across the region.
The statement said, “The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the supreme leadership of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, hereby announces to the entire world that the Monday sit-at-home across the South-East is officially and permanently cancelled with effect from Monday, February 9, 2026.”
IPOB said that anyone or group trying to make people stay home on Mondays would be going against Kanu’s orders and that “the era of Monday sit-at-home is over.” People were told to follow the law and be on the lookout.
The Guardian says that the Monday sit-at-home started in 2021 after Kanu was arrested and held in jail after being sent from Kenya to Nigeria to face terrorist charges.
At first, the protest was only about the dates of Kanu’s court hearings. Later, it became a weekly event that armed groups often forcefully enforced.
IPOB said multiple times that the action would be put on hold, but many people in the South-East still followed it because they were scared, threatened, or attacked.
The protracted shutdowns caused big losses for the economy, schools had to close many times, and South-East governors kept telling people to disregard the order.
Some state administrations have now taken stronger steps to end the practice. Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, told schools and markets to reopen on Mondays and said that enforced shutdowns would no longer be allowed.
Soludo ordered that marketplaces that were closed because of sit-at-home be reopened and threatened punishment for public workers, including teachers, who didn’t show up for work. He further said that workers who made mistakes would have their pay cut and that there was no official sit-at-home policy in the state.
IPOB had already said that state governments were using threats of market closures and demolitions to scare traders and workers into staying home out of “personal conviction.” They said that governors had no power to force people to stay home.
The group has now confirmed that Kanu has ordered the Monday sit-at-home to halt completely. They have also told people in the South-East to go about their normal business without fear or intimidation.
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