ONITSHA — Millions of Nigerian Ibos boycotted work yesterday in a stayaway protest called by a separatist group that has drawn a tough response from federal authorities.

Residents said the normally manic market streets of Onitsha — a southeastern city that is the largest centre of Ibo trade and on the banks of the Niger River — were quiet.

Aba, the second-largest commercial hub, also ground to a halt, but residents said the protest was only partially successful in Enugu, another major city.

It was the second major stayaway called by the outlawed Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, which seeks the peaceful secession of the southeastern region.

“I am staying at home to support what the movement is doing. After all, Nigeria has not been treating me well,” said Christopher Efoke, a young Ibo motor mechanic in Onitsha.

“Biafra must be independent,” he said.

The Biafra movement draws on Ibo feelings of marginalisation that caused the 1967-70 civil war in which the southeast tried to break away before surrendering to the federal army.

Authorities have cracked down on the organisation, arresting hundreds of members and trying its leader for treason.

In Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, located in the southwest where the Yoruba are the dominant tribe, and in the federal capital Abuja in the centre of Nigeria, Ibo market stalls and shops were deserted.

In Ibo cities, some people said they wanted to go to work but were unable to because there was no transport, while others said they stayed at home because they were afraid of trouble.

In the ‘New Parts’ area of Onitsha, a market for spare car parts, some movement members burnt tyres and set fire to a few cars to block a road.

Police fired in the air to disperse them and witnesses said a few people were injured in stone-throwing.

In Enugu, riot police and troops patrolled the streets and cleared bonfires set by militants. Some businesses opened by midday after remaining shut in the morning.

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra advocates peaceful secession and its protests are usually nonviolent, but in recent months some members have used tougher tactics in response to what they say is persecution from authorities.

The government considers that advocating the breakup of Nigeria is treasonable, and it rejects the idea of losing swathes of its territory, particularly oil-rich areas.

During the civil war, Biafra included the oil-producing Niger Delta, but the Ibo are not the main tribe there and many delta-based militants want no part in an independent Biafra.

The Ibo are the third-biggest ethnic group in Africa’s most populous country, after the Hausa-Fulani in the north and the Yoruba in the southwest.

The defunct Biafran Republic’s flag has reappeared and now flies from numerous homes and businesses across Iboland, while some people have started using an outlawed Biafran currency.