Residents in states in the South-East are groaning over the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra which they said continues to cripple socio-economic activities in the region.
In Ebonyi State, like in other states in the South-East, residents have continued to obey the order despite the group’s announcement of its suspension on August 9, 2021. The IPOB also noted that the order would be observed only on the days its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is to appear in court. The Federal Government is prosecuting Kanu for offences bordering on treasonable felony. He is IPOB’s leader and advocating Igbo Nation.
This is even in the face of last Sunday’s threat by the state governor, David Umahi, to sack civil servants who failed to report to work on Mondays. But the governor’s statement didn’t appear to move the civil servants who refused to go to work. Traders were also not left out as they refused to open their shops. The situation has adversely affected socioeconomic activities in the state and other states in the region.
On Monday, one of our correspondents, who monitored the situation in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, observed the closure of banks, markets, shops and filling stations in the state. Saturday PUNCH visited one of the commercial banks on Afikpo Road, Abakaliki, on Monday to interact with the guards there. One of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that he was instructed not to open the gate for anybody, including the bank’s employees.
He said, “I don’t know who you are but you can’t be asking me questions because I was instructed not to open the gate for any customer. If you want to withdraw money, use the ATM machine and leave. Other banks didn’t open for business and why should we open? It’s about the sit-at-home and many people are aware that it is still ongoing even after it was believed to have been suspended.”
At another bank on Ogoja Road, Abakaliki, it was discovered that the gate of the bank was under lock and key. Though a few customers converged on the gate for transactions, nobody attended to them. But an unidentified female who claimed to be one of the bank’s employees, said, “There is no point opening today (Monday), when everyone is aware that the safety of everyone is not guaranteed. Other banks did not open today and why should we open? Again, is our safety guaranteed if we open? Who will help us if we are attacked for opening for business?’’
Also, it was observed that many of the banks were not open for business. On Monday, major transport firms in the state did not open for business. The gates of Peace Mass Transit, Eastern Mass Transit, Romchi Mass Transit, Rivers Transport Company, among others, were shut.
Reacting to the development, a trader, Mrs Olanma Mercy, who sells foodstuffs, said the situation was affecting business activities in the state. According to her, if nothing is done to urgently address it, some people may be forced to go into crime.
Mercy said, “The sit-at-home order has its benefits and demerits. One, it was an opportunity for people to express their love for Nnamdi Kanu said to be fighting for Igbo Nation. But it’s worrisome for people to continue to observe the order even when IPOB said it had suspended it.
“The state economy was picking up from the damage done to it by COVID-19 pandemic. But all of a sudden, the sit-at-home came. We are losing customers and businesses are declining. Monday is the first working day of the week. People set goals and hopefully look forward to achieving them. But currently, our hopes are being dashed every Monday. It is terrible. Something needs to be done urgently too.”
On his part, a 35-year-old businessman and social commentator, Chika Nwogba, said the situation had destabilised economic activities in the state.
Advising that IPOB should use another approach to express their solidarity for Kanu in the interest of the poor, Nwogba urged government at all levels and stakeholders to look into the situation to forestall breakdown of law and order in the South-East.
He added, “The situation in Abakaliki, the state capital on Mondays is usually terrible. As a matter of fact, economic activities are being affected negatively to the point that one finds it almost hard to buy food and other essential commodities needed for use on a daily basis.
“I deal in computer accessories and I know what I normally make on Mondays. But this has stopped suddenly. Customers are being diverted from the zone to other regions of the country. We are indeed losing a lot on Mondays as a people.
“In my estimation, the every Monday sit-at-home is affecting the state more than others. This is because there’s hunger and a high unemployment index in the state. Youths are not engaged in meaningful activities and as such, the order could give rise to somewhat deleterious occurrences in the face of the already tremulous security situation in the state. When security is standing upon a broken foot, the economy and the living will suffer its after effects.”
Another resident in the state, Mr Eno Samuel, said the situation had adversely affected socioeconomic activities in the state.
The 37-year-old businessman noted, “We are really suffering and it is something that people should come out and condemn so that it can stop. Every Monday in the state we stay at home doing nothing while there are many things to do. This has brought untold suffering on the people and we are losing much money. How and when did we get to this kind of situation? Customers that bring goods for us to do our business have been complaining and many of them have stopped sending goods to us. This is worrisome and needs to be addressed.’’
The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, noted that the sit-at-home had no impact on the residents of the state who he said didn’t obey it. The governor made the statement on August 25 while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. But for the fourth Monday running on August 30, residents of Owerri, the Imo State capital, observed the weekly order.
In the state, commercial activities are always grounded every Monday. Banks, markets, shopping malls, eateries and shops remain locked every Monday since August 9. Schools, mechanic workshops, recreational centres and churches were under lock and key since the announcement of the weekly sit-at-home protest by the secessionists.
Though IPOB had since August 9 suspended the weekly protest, residents of the state continue to obey the order. Every Monday, the streets of Owerri are like a graveyard. The story is the same in Okigwe and Orlu towns. Small areas such as Ahiara Junction, Anara market Roundabout, Umuaka market and Amaraku are always deserted on Mondays.
From Douglas to Wethedral to Ikenegbu, Imo State University junction, Item streets, wood market at Aba Road and Alaba International market in Owerri, the story is the same.
The ever-busy Bank Road in Owerri experiences the same development. All the banks closes every Monday with few residents who come for transactions getting stranded.
Imo State University, Owerri, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, Federal University of Technology, Owerri and the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, are also deserted on Mondays too.
Saturday PUNCH observed that only fuel stations and pharmacy shops open for businesses on Mondays but suffer low patronages.
The popular Okigwe- Owerri Road, Imo State University, Owerri, Junction, the ever busy government House Road about, Bank and Weatheral Roads are also usually deserted on Mondays.
The Imo State government and the state police command continue to assure the residents to go about their lawful business on Mondays. The police noted that it had the capacity to protect them.
A popular newspaper seller at the Government Roundabout in Owerri, Isinwa Favour, otherwise called Shege, told one of our correspondents that he hardly sells on Mondays since the order started.
Isinwa said, “We are used to it. There are no sales on Mondays these days. I have now made up my mind that every Monday there is no business. I only come out on Mondays to sightsee. Nobody comes out not to talk of buying papers.’’
Another business owner in Owerri, Chukwudi Ike, said that he had decided not to go anywhere on Mondays.
He said that the first Monday he went to his shop after IPOB announced the order, he didn’t make sales.
Ike, who sells female wares at Okigwe Road, said, “I don’t come out on Mondays because the first day I did it, I ended up selling anything. These days, I stay home with my family because it has come to stay. The sit-at-home has crippled the economy of the state. Each Monday, we are faced with the unusual reality that there will not be any business.
“Like a joke, it has become a reality. The economy is shrinking and businesses are going down. Government is losing revenue and investors are not coming. This is not the best way to show grievances. We can’t be destroying our economy. The amount we lose every Monday is unimaginable. This is unfortunate.”
Order sustained in Enugu
In Enugu State where residents also still obey the IPOB sit-at-home despite its suspension, some of the people condemned it while others felt it was a necessary sacrifice for freedom even as it’s affecting socio-economic activities.
A businessman who supplies honey and red oil to buyers within and outside the South-East, Chima Okezie, described the cost of sit-at-home as enormous, noting however that it was a necessity.
He stated, “The sit at home order has affected me in various means and in various areas, especially in my economic inflow. However, I am not bothered about it because we are doing it for the good of Ndigbo. I can sacrifice anything to make sure that we achieve freedom in the name of Biafra. The Federal Government has been suffocating us, our children and future. Whatever I can sacrifice to buy or to gain freedom is worthwhile.”
On how the order would benefit the struggle for Biafra, he claimed that there was nothing that the Igbo would do that wouldn’t affect everybody in the country.
“Every day that there is sit-at-home and is observed in the South- East, it will affect traders in the North even more than the southerners because most of the meat, tomatoes, yam and wears, including farm produce that come from the North will be stalled. The trucks can’t be brought into the South-East every Monday that the sit-at-home is observed. What happens to perishable goods brought into the region anytime the order can’t be quantified. It affects everybody, even in some places in Lagos and Abuja, some Igbo observe the order by not opening their shops. Other areas are affected likewise the South-East.’’
In his opinion, a trader at Ogbete Main Market, Dennis Ojobor, described the order as the worst thing that could happen to the Igbo regardless of divergent opinions on it.
He added, “The sit-at-home is the worst thing that has happened to the South-East as a region. As far as I am concerned, on Mondays, I miss a lot as a businessman and trader even though it’s not in millions. I can’t quantify what I lose every Monday; is it in terms of economic value or the curtailing of freedom. The worst thing is that one cannot go to rural communities to buy anything because of fear of the unknown. One can be killed by security agencies and labelled a member of IPOB/Eastern Security Network or one will be a victim of hoodlums who always cash in on the situation to perpetrate evil. Whichever way one looks at the situation everybody is losing. Many people went out and disappeared till today without any trace.”
In analysing the order, a security expert and a criminologist, Emeka Umeagbalasi, said since the IPOB reversed the order, it had been interpreted differently by different people based on either fear of their security or being willingly/genuinely wanting to show solidarity.
“Rightly, sit-at-home that has been ongoing repeatedly across Igboland every Monday is interpreted differently especially since it defied IPOB’s reversal of same. Some think it is because of fear of state terrorism using highly compromised security agencies to possibly mass kill or mass abduct or arrest innocent and defenceless Igbo road users and others.
“But the question to this line of thinking is: how many security operatives are seen on the roads on the day of the sit-at-home? And are the Nigerian security agencies, if that is truly the case, now enforcers of sit-at-home or ‘discouragers’ of the same? If security agencies go about killing people or mass arresting them because they refuse to sit-at-home, are the same security agencies now part of IPOB and if not, are they not supposed to be encouraging people not to sit at home? There was a claim that soldiers molested residents of Emene in Enugu State who gathered in front of their homes because their shops were not open. Where do you place this assault on, is it to encourage or discourage?”
Umeagbalasi further stated, “Another line of thinking is people stay at home to avoid being attacked by IPOB and the frontal counter to this is that: why are people still afraid of the same IPOB that issued a counter-directive suspending the sit-at-home?
On the solution to the issue, Umeagbalasi said the situation would not last, calling for concerted effort to address the motivating factor.
He added, “I think it is a strong collective message to the Nigerian government to frontally address the issue including the root causes that are propelling resort to armed resistance. The world is also by this being called upon to intervene now before it gets out of hand. Since it is a conscientious thing, I think the sit-at-home will not last forever. When it is time it will be discontinued.”
Anambra not excluded
Despite the suspension of the order, people in Anambra State continue to obey it either out of fear or solidarity for the secessionists.
A leader of a motor bay in Aroma, Awka South Local Government Area of the state, Sylvester Eze, noted that every Monday had become a resting day for him and members of his family.
Eze stated, “Sunday alone is not enough for me to rest. Before now, I worked from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, I go to church, and church engagements sometimes last until evening. So, no time to rest. But with this Monday sit-at-home thing, I have the whole Monday to relax with my family. I’m not losing anything.’’
Also speaking, a resident, Boniface Ndupuechi, said the solidarity for Kanu cannot be quantified in economic values.
He claimed that without the activities of Kanu and the ESN, the South-East would have been overrun by the killer herders.
He said, “I don’t think it is right to go out to make money on Mondays while the man who put his life on the stake for the Igbo is incarcerated. If the IPOB and ESN are not in Igboland, it would have been taken over by intruders. Every Igbo man should naturally commit to the sit-at-home protest. The order is about our future and that of our children. I’m comfortable with it.’’
But for a trader at Eke Awka market, Sunday Ujudfima, the protest is inimical to Igbo economy.
He stated, “It’s unfortunate that the Igbo have decided to kill their economy by this unnecessary protest. Their protest initially might have a meaning, but now that it was suspended, there is no reason for people in the South-East to continue to voluntarily observe it.’’
On her part, a food vendor, Ms Nancy Maduagwuna, said there was nothing wrong in obeying the order every Monday by the people in the region.
She said, “I’m not losing anything. The protest is for our country. It gives everyone time to think for the benefit of all, especially the Igbo.’’