In this piece, MICHAEL OVAT, JOHNKENNEDY UZOMA, COSMAS CHUKWU AND SUNDAY NWAKAMMA, take a look at the effects of the order on the socio-economic standing of the South-East and the efforts of the governors, especially those recently sworn-in, to end it.

Since the beginning of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, the peace of the five states in the South-East geo-political zone has been on the edge over agitation for a separate country for the zone. The agitation was spearheaded by the now almost forgotten Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). As MASSOB was phasing out, a more militant group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) took over the agitation and the peace was literarily lost.

The arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kalu, the leader of the group, by the Federal Government, his trial and continued detention by the Department of State Service (DSS), even when several courts had ruled that he should be released spiked the crisis in the region.

Responding to the government’s unbending posture, IPOB devised the sit-at-home order, forbidding residents of the zone from going out every Monday to press home the release of Kanu. The enforcement of the order by the separatist group has visited untold hardship on the zone.

The sit-at-home in Anambra State

Since the inception of sit-at-home on July 9, 2021, the social-economic existence of eastern region of Nigeria (mainly Igbos) has deteriorated.

According to Nigerian Tribune findings, the situation has also led to so many deaths and the relocation of investors, especially the non-Igbo-speaking investors, over fear of being kidnapped and killed by hoodlums suspected to be operating under the cover of IPOB.

It was gathered that the situation has deteriorated to a point where the agitating group tasks petty shop owners, motor parks, hotels, cottage industries and farmers to pay supportive levies on daily and weekly basis to support its agitation, with those who resist being visited with untold calamities.

This was the situation Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, inherited when he assumed office in November 2022. Prior to his assumption of office, Anambra State had become the epicentre of IPOB activities as residents were killed, maimed and dehumanised.

In his effort to salvage the situation, Governor Soludo began with an appeal to the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu under his signature, noting that the IPOB leader’s release would end the menace.

Before he was elected as the governor, Soludo in one of his campaign statements had lamented that the state was losing an average of N19.6billion every Monday that it was locked down. Given the volume of trading in the Onitsha Main Market, one of the biggest markets in West Africa.

Here Is how the professor of Macroeconomics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) put it: “Anambra State economy loses an estimated sum of N19.6billion every time the sit-at-home directive is enforced in the state. Such actions do not define who we are. That is why we are calling on those responsible to stop because we are hurting ourselves. I am making a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him released to me and I will stand surety for him.”

The governor explained that he made the call because he believed that Mr Kanu’s release would help to expose criminals who carried out attacks in the South-East under the guise of the Biafra agitation.

“My goal in calling for Nnamdi Kanu’s release is to separate the chaff from the substance. When he (Kanu) is released, we will know who the true agitation fighters and criminals are,” he added.

Taking a cue from Soludo’s appeal for the unconditional release of Kalu, the Igbo socio-political organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, also called on South-East governors to take steps to end the sit-at-home order forced on residents of the region by agitators for a separate and independent entity for the region outside the Nigerian federation. Ohanaeze Ndigbo lamented that the menace was crippling the economy of the region, and at the same time destroying lives in the region.

Nigerian Tribune further found out that people majority of the people obeying the sit-at-home order are doing so to register their concern over the fate of the embattled leader of IPOB, and the rest of all agitators languishing in detention by security agents across the country.

This has made the directive to residents by the state government not to obey the order very ineffectual. Some others who spoke in support of the agitation on condition of anonymity said it would also force the government at the centre to include the Igbo in any national discourse that could end the obvious marginalisation of ‘Ndigbo’ (Igbo people) from the scheme of things in the country.

Now, the situation is harsher in the state, coupled with the removal of fuel subsidy by the newly inaugurated administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Imo State

The people of Imo State cannot forget in a hurry the hunger, agony, difficulty, and painful situations they are subjected to anytime IPOB calls for the Monday sit-at-home exercise. The emergence of this phenomenon, which is the first of its kind in the history of the state, is considered an evil wind that blows no one any good.

The declaration of sit-at-home by IPOB to press home its demands came to the people by surprise and at a time when no one knew what to do about it.

As residents of the state tried to adjust to the order, they were denied free movement: going to their businesses, travelling from their homes to see their families, loved ones, friends and well-wishers.

Any time the order is issued, residents have no option than to stay away from the streets, roads, and businesses to avoid being attacked.

From the time the declaration first started till date, a lot of unfortunate incident have occurred. News of series of attacks, maiming and killings abound in the state. The peace of the state has been shattered to the point that if killings do not take place say in Okigwe on a certain day, one could easily predict that it would happen in Orlu the next day, or in the Owerri zone.

The situation had adverse economic effects on the people of the state. This is because the usually busy Mondays have since turned to days when people are forced to remain indoors or brave it and come under harm. Anybody that challenges the order is seen as enemy of the IPOB and such fellow risks his life.

The state government chose the approach of setting up a government security outfit known as ‘Ebube Agu’ to contain the situation. The setting up of Ebube Agu by the state government, rather than solve the problem, aggravated the situation.

Before setting up Ebube Agu security outfit, the Imo State government had also mobilised all security operatives in the state to find a way to stop the sit-at-home order from being carried out, all to no avail.

There were also series of radio announcements warning the citizens of the state not to comply with the sit-at-home order by IPOB, but it fell on deaf ears.

These efforts by the state government failed as people of the state did not see the seriousness of the government in its efforts.

Imo residents, including civil servants, have not dared to disobey the sit-at-home order as no solid security arrangement is on ground to guarantee their safety.

Sit-at-home continues in Enugu State

The sit-at-home protest in place in Enugu has remained operative not only on Mondays but on days when Kanu appears in court. Many lives have been lost through the enforcement of a counter order by the government working with security agencies in this stat e.

The military and other security agencies have invaded communities viewed as hideouts by IPOB, Eastern Security Network (ESN), sit-at-home enforcers. For instance, Isingwu Imeama and Amaeta villages have been invaded several times by the military, chasing after the ESN operatives and their allies, according to informants.

This had led to the disappearance of many young men in Mgbowo town and many other communities in Awgu LGA and local governments in the state such as Aninri, Nkanu East, Igboeze North, among others. But the twist here is that these enforcers have succeeded in chasing off killer Fulani herders and their cattle, hence their acceptance by the people of their catchment communities.

When Dr Peter Mbah was sworn-in as governor of the state on May 29, he announced after his first security meeting with heads of the security agencies the cancelation of the sit-at-home with effect from Monday, June 5, 2023. The declaration, events have since shown, did not go down well with people.

On the first Monday following the governor’s order, nobody came out that day despite the heavy presence of police and military patrol on ground and in the air.

This perhaps made the government have a rethink and call a town hall meeting to sensitise the stakeholders and people of the need to halt the exercise.

An agreement was entered into, but the following Monday, June 12, Democracy Day, the exercise held again.

The head of the IPOB group, Mazi Simeon Ekpa had reportedly issued threats if Enugu should go ahead to disobey the group’s order, it would be met with grave consequences.

Another Monday draws near, and it is uncertain if indeed the sit-at-home exercise will end, even as the Nigerian military, through Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has been called in to assist the state in internal security.

Sit-at-home minimal in Abia

The ongoing Monday sit-at-home ordered by IPOB currently has little or no effect on the economy of Abia State. While it has virtually petered out in Umuahia, Ohafia and Umunneochi areas of the state, it is a different case in Aba areas.

Apart from Aba, businesses have remained open and movement takes place without hindrance. There has been no harassment or intimidation of residents in the state of recent and life has been going on smoothly.

In Aba, however, the order is still being observed with minimal enforcement by IPOB, unlike in the past. According to Goodluck Ibem, the president-general, Coalition of South-East Youths Leaders (COSEYL), the order still exists in Aba.

“Billions of naira are being lost every Monday and it creates fear in the mind of traders who come from outside the state and outside the country. In Aba, billions of naira are lost as Aba is the commercial hub of the state, the South-East and the country,” a respondent told Nigerian Tribune.

Meanwhile, the state is yet to hear any categorical statement by the new administration of Dr Alex Otti on what will be its stance on the matter. The administration is barely two weeks old, and no statement has been issued since its inauguration on May 29.

Kanu was first arrested in 2015 but was granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year. He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.

IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the South-East and some parts of South-South Nigeria.

The IPOB sit-at-home declaration took effect from Monday, August 9, 2021. From that day, Igboland has been on lockdown every Monday from 6:00am to 6:00pm.

Subsequently, gunmen, otherwise called, unknown gunmen, believed to be part of the IPOB’s agitation in the South-East, have been carrying out deadly attacks mainly on government facilities and security agencies in the region. Not a few residents of the region have fallen victims of the deadly attacks. (Nigerian Tribune)

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