Markets and businesses closed down Monday and streets were mostly deserted in cities across southeast Nigeria, residents said after a separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB called for a protest over the detention of its leader.
The proscribed group 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.
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“I never believed that this order will take effect like this,” said Chinonso Agomuo, a local trader. “See the roads, no one is on the road.
“Nobody goes to the market because no one will come and buy what you are selling.”
In Enugu city in southeastern Enugu state, some main streets were also quiet.
“Banks are not working. Even markets are all locked,” said motorist Christian Ekekwe.
IPOB spokesman Emmanuel Powerful has called for a 6:00 am to 6:00 pm protest every Monday to demand Kanu’s immediate release.
