The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has called for an observation of ‘ghost town’ on Sunday and Monday, May 30 and 31 respectively, to mark the remembrance of Biafra’s heroes who fought in the Civil War of 1967 to 1970.

The group, through Radio Biafra, asked residents across the South East and South South to stay indoors until 6pm.

A resident of Imo State told FIJ that residents had started stocking food at home in preparation for the lockdown.

There have however been conflicting reports as to whether the observation of the ghost town would start today or on Sunday, the 30th. Places that usually have traffic, like Control, were free of it on Saturday.

An announcement on what seemed to come from IPOB’s Facebook page read: “Prepare for sit-at-home on Monday to remember our fallen heroes and heroines, stock your homes with food and do not come out from 6:00am to 6:00pm Biafra time, do not make yourself a victim of sabotage and scapegoat. Those who may try to flaunt order will have themselves to blame.”

In Anambra State, FIJ spoke to a resident who works at the construction of the new Anambra State Cargo/Passenger International Airport. He said the workers only came to work on Saturday morning because Willie Obiano, the Governor, was coming for inspection. He told FIJ that the workers were however panicking and said they would not report to work on Sunday and Monday.

An audio clip by IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, circulated across social media. In it, he warned the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University against holding exams on Monday and urged him to adhere to the ghost town observation.

Ukah Obinna a final year student of the Department of Industrial Chemistry at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University told FIJ he wrote his last paper on Thursday and was not personally affected.

“There was meant to be an exam on Monday; it influenced the Vice Chancellor’s decision to shift the exam (computer Science and Industrial Chemistry exam) to Wednesday. It had to do with the warning from Nnamdi and this is going to affect students who wanted to travel after exams,” he said.

The video was circulated across all departmental group chats.

“The IPOB is taken very seriously here in Anambra and we students were advised to adhere to the rules,” he added. “Within ourselves, we know that there is no movement tomorrow.”

The South East has in recent times been rocked with violence from what has been described by the media as “unknown gunmen“. The gunmen have targeted mostly police stations and killed policemen.