In a statement issued on Friday, May 29, by the Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations of the 82 Division Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Olalekan Ayeni, the military described the directive as provocative and accused sympathisers of MASSOB and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of attempting to destabilise the region.
The Nigerian Army has declared as illegal a directive earlier issued by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), asking churches across the South-East and parts of the South-South to hold memorial services for victims of the Nigerian civil war on May 30, 2026.
In a statement issued on Friday, May 29, by the Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations of the 82 Division Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Olalekan Ayeni, the military described the directive as provocative and accused sympathisers of MASSOB and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of attempting to destabilise the region.
In the statement issued through Headquarters of Operation UDO KA, the Army warned clerics, youths and residents of the region against participating in any activities outside officially recognised national commemorations.
“The attention of Headquarters Operation UDO KA has been drawn to an illegal directive issued by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), directing churches in the South-East and parts of the South-South to hold memorial services in honour of civil war victims,” the statement read.
