The Indigenous People of Biafra has asked the Federal Government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, on or before Sunday, August 8, 2021, threatening to enforce a total lockdown in the South-East geopolitical zone from Monday, August 9, 2021, if the ultimatum is not heeded.

The group also maintained that self determination had never been found in any country’s constitution to be an offence.

IPOB’s Head, Directorate of State, Chika Edoziem, stated this in a statement, which was made available to The PUNCH on Wednesday.

Kanu was arrested a month ago in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria, where he has been in the custody of the Department of States Services in Abuja on charges bordering on treason and felony.

The secessionist group also urged governors and leaders of the South-East and others, who allegedly had a hand in the arrest and abduction of Kanu from Kenya, to pray that nothing untoward happens to him in detention, saying the land of Biafra would not accommodate them should that became the case.

The statement read in part, “The Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra is very much aware of the strategy of the government of Nigeria to subject the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra worldwide, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to media trial and to convict him in the public before giving him that public conviction, an official stamp of the compromised Nigerian judicial system.

“The global community knows that self determination is not a crime; the Nigerian government knows equally that self determination does not in any way constitute any known offence stipulated in their constitution and therefore do not have any case against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

“In recognition of the above facts and truths, the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra demands herewith an unconditional and immediate release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on or before August 8, 2021, failing which we shall commence a weekly lock down of Biafraland, starting on Monday, August 9, 2021.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this total lockdown of Biafraland will take place every week until our leader is released unconditionally. This weekly lockdown is simply one of the measures we shall put in place to ensure that our leader is released hale and hearty.”