Fides Media Living the Faith
By Ikeugonna Eleke
There was uneasy calm in Anambra State last Tuesday after news of the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, filtered in.
Onitsha and Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area, are among the strongholds of the IPOB leader, with thousands of youths who believe in him.
But information gathered by Fides shows that there is no apprehension anywhere in the state over the arrest of the separatist agitator.
Mr Okechukwu Kingsley, a newspaper vendor at Old Market Road in Onitsha, a major base of the IPOB leader’s followers in the town, told Fides on the phone that there was calm in the city.
‘People were going about their duties normally early today, despite the news. The re-arrest of Kanu was a major topic on the newspaper stands this afternoon, but so far, there have been no threats to breach of peace,’ Kingsley said.
Fides also gathered that Ekwulobia was calm and there were no threats of attack.
A member of the group who spoke to Fides in Awka on condition of anonymity said a broadcast on the Radio Biafra Channel saw a broadcaster; Mazi Chideraa, assuring all members to be calm as Kanu was okay.
‘When I tuned to Biafra Radio 103.1 this evening, Mazi Chideraa was making a broadcast, assuring everyone that though the news was true, there was no need to panic.
‘Mazi Chideraa is a presenter on the radio, so we do not know if he is now acting as the second-in-command, but you know his arrest was very sudden, so he (Kanu) may not have had the time to announce a second-in-command,’ the source said.
On the social media, while some people were happy about his arrest, others said he was being hounded like a criminal because he was from the Southeast.