Rising tensions prompted the governor of Abia state, where the leader's residence is located, to impose a curfew.
Members
of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group said soldiers had
surrounded the home of leader Nnamdi Kanu. Groups have stepped up calls
for secession since Kanu was released on bail in April after being
detained for nearly two years on charges of criminal conspiracy and
belonging to an illegal society.
"There was no surrounding of Nnamdi Kanu's residence. It is not true," said army spokesman Sani Usman.
Secessionist
sentiment has simmered in the region since the Biafra separatist
rebellion tipped Africa's most populous country into a civil war in
1967-70 that killed an estimated one million people.
The military presence in southeastern Nigeria has increased in the last few weeks to crack down on crime.
The IPOB also said that soldiers stormed Kanu's family compound on Sunday, which the army also denied.
Politicians waded into the dispute on Tuesday.
Abia
state governor Okezie Ikpeazu said in a statement that people were
advised to observe a curfew from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0500 GMT)
from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14.
A
caucus of southeastern lawmakers in the Senate, the upper chamber of
parliament, said in a statement through its chairman Enyinnaya Abaribe
that the military had sent a "strong signal that the region is under
siege, which should not be so in a democracy".
Renewed
calls for Biafran secession prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to use
his first speech after returning from three months of medical leave in
Britain, in August, to say Nigeria's unity was "not negotiable".
Amnesty
International in 2016 accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at
least 150 Biafra separatists at peaceful rallies. The military and
police denied the allegations.
(Reporting
by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu; additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram
in Lagos and Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa; editing by Grant McCool)
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