The sit-at-home led to a widespread discussion on social media at the centre of which is Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the IPOB, who was recently released on bail in April.
Here are some facts about the IPOB leader you may never heard about:
1. He refuses to give his exact age, but was born in the 1970s. He was the eldest of five children and grew up from a young age with stories from his father about the Biafran resistance.
2. As far back as 2009, Kanu launched virulent diatribes against Nigeria from London, where he settled after his studies and founded the pirate radio station Radio Biafra.
3. He was formerly a member of another pro-independence group, MASSOB, but he left and founded IPOB in 2013.
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| Nnamdi Kanu |
4. In 2015, at the World Igbo Congress in Los Angeles, Kanu crossed a line with an apparent call to take up arms. "We need guns and we need bullets," he said.
5. He was arrested at his hotel during a visit to Nigeria in October 2015.
6. Kanu's detention caused widespread anger among Igbos and a series of protests calling for his release ended in bloodshed. According to Amnesty International, Nigerian security forces killed at least 150 IPOB supporters in 2016.
7. The recent turn to Jewish religion by IPOB members dates back to a "divine revelation" Kanu says he had during a trip to Jerusalem: the Igbo -- most of whom are Christian -- are descendents of a lost tribe of Israel, he says.
