As far as most Nigerians are concerned, every Igbo person is a secessionist — in word or at heart — no matter the person’s claim to the contrary. Even though it is not a crime to be seen as a peaceful secessionist if one is actually one, the problem arises when one is assumed a secessionist or a potential secessionist just because of one’s ethnic group.
Last Saturday, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra called for a sit-at-home in the South-Eastern states to protest the incessant killing of Igbo people in other parts of Nigeria, especially in the North. It brought the members of the group and the security agents into a collision, leading to the reported loss of two lives through accidents, as well as destruction of property. Many markets in Igboland were said to have closed not because they were keen on obeying the sit-at-home order by MASSOB, but because they were afraid of being molested by members of the group who were bent on enforcing the order.
