Markets and businesses closed down Monday and streets were mostly
deserted in cities across southeast Nigeria, residents said after a
separatist group called for a protest over the arrest of its leader.
The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra movement (IPOB), which
wants a separate state for the ethnic Igbo people in the southeast, has
called for businesses to close every Monday in the region.
IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu is still being held by the Department of State
Services intelligence agency after his lawyers say he was arrested in
June in Kenya and extradited back to Nigeria to face trial.
In Owerri, capital of Imo state, normally bustling main roads were
mostly deserted Monday morning as many shops and markets closed in
compliance with the IPOB protest, residents said.
In Enugu city in southeastern Enugu state, some main streets were also
quiet.
IPOB spokesman Emmanuel Powerful has called for a 6:00 am to 6:00
pm protest every Monday to demand Kanu’s immediate release.
