“Open Your Shops Despite Soludo’s Order” – IPOB Directs Onitsha Traders

The Indigenous People of Biafra

The Indigenous People of Biafra has asked traders and shop owners at the Onitsha Main Market to open for business on Tuesday. This comes after Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s directive shutting the market for one week from today.

Reacting via a press statement issued late on Monday, the IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, revealed that Soludo must be reminded that no government entity established or funded the traders’ businesses.

He added that the Federal Government must heed the call and release Nnamdi Kanu without delay to restore peace in the South-East.

It read, “The IPOB hereby declares that tomorrow, January 27, 2026, our people in Anambra State shall resume their legitimate business activities and open their shops and markets.

This action is not in defiance of any gubernatorial order but in the exercise of their God-given right to pursue their daily livelihoods according to their preferences and necessities.

Our people endured a three-year food blockade during the Nigeria-Biafra War and emerged as the most entrepreneurial ethnic group in Africa, as well as the most successful immigrant community in the United States.

Our fathers liberated Nigeria from colonial rule, our ancestors liberated Haiti from colonial oppression, and in the creeks of Savannah, Georgia, we Igbos chose death over enslavement—a legacy chronicled in Alex Haley’s ‘Roots,’ where our ancestors from Onitsha drowned themselves rather than submit to man-made slavery and bondage.

We have always chosen death over dishonour. Governor Soludo, you cannot defeat our collective spirit of resistance; history teaches us that.

Before embarking on any perilous path tomorrow, such as deploying soldiers from the Onitsha barracks to infringe upon our rights to conduct business as we deem fit, Governor Soludo must carefully weigh the consequences. Any arrests, harassment, or bloodshed will signal the beginning of the end for those who oppose the will of the people.

When the great people of Anambra, the first sons of Igboland and the origin of the Igbo race, demand action toward the unconditional release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, it is the divine speaking through them.

Tomorrow, our markets shall open, and no force on earth can prevent it. We warn that any attempt to obstruct this will invite grave danger upon the enemies of Biafra’s emancipation.

The Federal Government of Nigeria must heed this call and release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu without further delay to restore peace and normalcy in the South-East.”

WOW.