The director-general of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has described the threat by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to impose a weekly lockdown on the southeast zone as waging atrocious war against Ndigbo.

Okechukwu in a statement on Sunday, August 1, warned that IPOB's planned lockdown every Monday of the week will have a negative effect on the southeast zone.
He argued that such a decision will not deliver meaningful results for the region. The VON DG said: ''Let me for the umpteenth time appeal to my brothers in IPOB to sheath their sword, for to lockdown the South-East is simply waging atrocious war against Ndigbo. “Accordingly, it will be very big error for IPOB to lockdown the South-East and think they are tough, strategic and will achieve any meaningful result, capital NO.'' Premium Times reported that Okechukwu pointed out that a lockdown will starve the southeast zone of essential supplies.
He also noted that it will hamper the ongoing plan by the federal government to improve the infrastructure of the region. He said: “Hence, IPOB should be aware that to lock down South-East is nothing but to punish Ndigbo; to degrade against Ndigbo, South-East economy, to starve Ndigbo and akin to the obnoxious civil war doctrine of hunger as the best weapon.''

Okechukwu expressed support for Ohaneze Ndigbo’s position that the rule of law should prevail in the trial of Kanu, the leader of the proscribed IPOB.