For the greater part of Friday, May 30, 2025, residents of Anambra and the four other southeast states were forced to observe a sit-at-home as economic and social activities were grounded to a halt.

Legit.ng's check showed that courts, government offices, schools, markets and commercial transport owners withdrew their vehicles from many roads in the East.

May 30 is tagged Biafra Day (also called Biafra Heroes Day or Biafra Heroes Memorial Day), a period designated by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for Igbo people to commemorate and pay tribute to "those who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for Biafra’s liberation and independence."

Biafra separatist leaders vs Nigerian govts

The struggle for Biafra's independence has led to numerous confrontations with Nigerian security forces. It has resulted in clashes between the federal government of Nigeria and Biafra separatist leaders.

Adherents of Biafra frontline campaigners are often accused of violent agitation. Sometimes, individuals believed to be their leaders deny it, and at times, they own up to the mindless killings and destructions.

Legit.ng highlights three prominent secessionist leaders associated with Biafra whom successive Nigerian governments have clashed with.

1) Nnamdi Kanu

Kanu is a separatist known for advocating for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria. He is the leader of IPOB, which he founded in 2012. The main aim of IPOB is to achieve the creation of the Republic of Biafra which Igbo figures tried to carve out of Nigeria in the 60s.

During the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, on October 18, 2015, it was reported that Kanu had been arrested by Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS). Kanu had told his solicitors that on October 14, 2015, he was arrested by the DSS agents in his hotel room at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.

The news of the arrest of Kanu generated protests across several south-east and south-south states.

After being tried in a top court in Abuja, he was granted bail. However, in September 2017, scores of youths were injured when Nigerian troops attacked Kanu's country-home in Umuahia, Abia state. Kanu and a handful of his loyalists escaped.

Kanu continued his Biafra agitation in the diaspora. In June 2021, he was re-arrested by Interpol in Kenya and handed over to Nigeria. Since then, he has been facing trial in Nigeria over alleged terror-related activities. The 57-year-old is being held in the custody of the DSS in Abuja.

2) Ralph Uwazuruike

Uwazuruike led the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

Uwazuruike founded MASSOB in 1999, in the aftermath of the Nigerian elections that produced President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Under Obasanjo, Uwazuruike was charged with treason.

In 2011, Uwazuruike and 280 MASSOB members were arrested in Enugu state at an event in honour of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military officer who galvanised the push for the creation of the Republic of Biafra in 1967. Uwazuruike was released on orders of the Nigerian president at the time, Goodluck Jonathan.

Presently, Uwazuruike has softened his pro-Biafra activism.

3) Simon Ekpa

Simon Ekpa, a former local councillor from Lahti, is facing terrorism-related charges in Finland.

Ekpa is accused of publicly inciting crimes for terrorist purposes.

Prosecutors argue that Ekpa's activities, conducted online and coordinated from Finland, may constitute terrorism under Finnish law.

Prosecutors in Europe are demanding a six-year prison sentence for the former athlete while Nigeria wants him repatriated.