IPOB Declares May 30, 2026, as Biafran Remembrance Day, Orders Sit at Home Across South-East.

The group says the day is for solemn reflection, not politics or celebrations.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has announced that May 30, 2026, will be observed as a Remembrance Day for Biafran heroes and heroines, with a compulsory sit at home across communities in the South-East.

In a statement released on Sunday by the group, still led by its imprisoned founder Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB said the day is meant for honouring those who lost their lives during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) and other incidents involving pro-Biafra supporters.

According to IPOB, the annual observance is about preserving the memory of what it called “fallen heroes and heroines.” The group described the wartime generation as exceptional people who resisted overwhelming military power under unimaginable hardship.

IPOB also recalled foreign involvement during the civil war, saying Biafran fighters faced the UK’s diplomatic and strategic backing of Nigeria, Soviet weapons, mercenaries, foreign advisers, blockades, bombings, starvation policies, and hostile forces from beyond Biafra’s borders. “And still they stood,” the statement read.

The group linked the wartime struggle to the survival of the Biafran people, stating, “What they defended was more than territory. They defended the right of a people to survive.”

IPOB also remembered those killed during the May 30, 2016, remembrance events in Nkpor and Onitsha, describing them as “unarmed men and women whose only offence was gathering to honour their dead and affirm their identity.”

The group said the sit at home will be observed across towns, villages, and cities in what it calls Biafraland. It listed activities to be suspended on the day: politics, commerce, entertainment, weddings, burials, meetings, market activities, and social events. “It is a solemn day of reflection, prayer, mourning, honour, and national remembrance,” the statement added.

IPOB also called on governors across the 13 states it considers Biafraland to fly Nigerian flags at half mast on May 30.