IPOB declares May 30 sit-at-home to honour fallen Biafran heroes
The Indigenous People of Biafra has declared a sit-at-home on May 30, 2026 to honour Biafran men and women who died during the Biafran War between 1967 to 1970.
The group said the sit-at-home is not a political ritual, but a yearly memorial, noting that it was a way to remember Biafran heroes and heroines, adding that every governor across the 13 states of Biafraland should fly the Nigerian flag at half-mast on May 30.
In a press statement issued on Sunday, the IPOB Spokesman, Emma Powerful, urged all South-East residents at home and in the diaspora to observe the day with discipline, dignity, and reverence worthy of the sacrifices made by the fallen heroes.
According to him, the day is not for politics, commerce, entertainment, weddings, burials, meetings, market activities, or social events, adding that it is a solemn day of reflection, prayer, mourning, honour, and national remembrance.
The statement read in part, “We, the Indigenous People of Biafra, under the supreme leadership of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, hereby solemnly declare May 30, 2026, as a sacred day of remembrance, mourning, reflection, and honour for all Biafran heroes and heroines who paid the ultimate price in the defence of our people, our dignity, and our collective right to exist.
“This is not a political ritual. This is a sacred covenant with the fallen. The generation of 1967–1970 was men for men — a rare breed forged in fire, deprivation, sacrifice, and impossible odds.
“They stood virtually alone against the combined weight of overwhelming military power and yet wrote one of the most astonishing resistance stories in modern history.
“They faced the geopolitical machinery of the United Kingdom, which openly backed Nigeria diplomatically and strategically throughout the war.
“They faced foreign weapons, Soviet arms supplied to Nigeria despite the Cold War divide, mercenaries, foreign advisers, blockade warfare, aerial bombardment, starvation policies, and hostile forces assembled from far beyond Biafra’s borders. And still they stood.
“The world may move on. History books may reduce their sacrifice to footnotes. Governments may prefer silence. But for us, remembrance is not politics. It is a sacred obligation.”
“So every 30 May is more than remembrance. It is a covenant. A solemn vow between the living and the dead that their sacrifice will never be erased by propaganda, fear, or time itself.”
The group said it remembers the soldiers who fought barefoot with empty stomachs and every scientist who turned scraps into survival.
“And we remember especially the heroes and martyrs massacred at Nkpor and Onitsha during the 30 May 2016 Remembrance observances — unarmed men and women whose only offence was gathering to honour their dead and affirm their identity.
“Their blood joined the long and painful river of sacrifice that runs through our history. We shall never abandon their memory, and we shall never allow their sacrifice to be erased from the conscience of our people.
“And we remember them not in shame, but in honour. For history will forever record that a besieged people, abandoned by the world, resisted the combined machinery assembled against them and still refused to surrender their humanity.
“Accordingly, the IPOB, worldwide, calls for the strict and total observance of the annual May 30 sit-at-home across every town, village, and city in Biafraland in honour of all our fallen heroes and heroines.
“We further encourage every governor across the thirteen states of Biafraland to demonstrate moral courage and historical conscience by flying the Nigerian flag at half-mast on May 30 in honour of the millions who perished during the war and in the years that followed.
“Such a gesture would not diminish anyone; rather, it would acknowledge the humanity of the dead and affirm that their lives mattered. No one can build a just future while pretending their dead never existed.
“Their memory is now our duty. Their sacrifice is now our inheritance. And their story will live for as long as a single Biafran remains upon the face of this earth,” the statement concluded.
Recall that on February 8, 2026, the IPOB said its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, had ordered the total cancellation of the Monday sit-at-home across the South-East, with effect from February 9, 2026.
The cancellation followed the one-week closure of the Onitsha Main Market by the Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on January 26, following traders’ failure to comply with the state government’s directive to disregard the Monday sit-at-home order.
However, the IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, insisted that the May 30 sit-at-home had nothing to do with the outlawed Monday sit-at-home, saying it is a yearly activity done in memory of the fallen Biafran heroes and heroines.
