Streets empty, schools closed as IPOB's sit-at-home order is obeyed in Southeast

A sit-at-home directive issued by the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) has largely been complied with in most southeastern states, towns or cities.

IPOB had declared the sit-at-home to press for the release of its jailed leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu was re-arrested in June, four years after fleeing Nigeria.

He faces an 11-count charge bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms, improper importation of goods, among others.

IPOB has asked everyone resident in the southeast to remain indoors every Monday, beginning today, August 9, until Kanu is released unconditionally.

Reports reaching the Pulse newsroom indicate that the directive was largely adhered to in Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo and parts of Abia, with businesses and markets shut, school gates locked and banks shuttered.

Social media users have been sharing pictures of empty streets and locked shops from the southeast region.

Some reports say thugs are laying in wait for commuters who dare defy the ban, on eerie bends and intersections.

Kanu's IPOB seeks a separatist southeastern region that tried in 1967 to break away from Nigeria under the name 'Republic of Biafra.'

The 1967 secession attempt triggered a three-year civil war in which more than a million Igbos died, mostly from starvation.

Kanu's trial resumed on July 26.