Southeast governors and other stakeholders from the zone are exploring fresh options to put an end to the Monday sit-at-home protests that have left its economy bleeding.

Only in Ebonyi State have the people succeeded in putting the protest behind them.

The sit-at-home was instigated by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in August 2021 in an attempt to pressure the federal government to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and has defied all efforts made so far to stop it, the latest being the Executive Order made by Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah moments after his inauguration on May 29.

The protesters are not even persuaded by repeated statements by the same IPOB cancelling the sit-at-home order, although their fear seems to stem more from the possibility of being attacked by hoodlums who continue to threaten residents than any other consideration.

The situation is not helped by the latest statement by factional leader of IPOB, Simon Ekpa, in which he declared sit-at-home in the geo-political zone from July 3 to 10 to demand the “immediate and unconditional release” of Kanu by the Department of Security Service (DSS).

The main faction of the group said it has nothing to do with the action.

Worried by the continued economic losses imposed on the region by the protest, governors and other stakeholders in the zone are said to be sweating on how to save the situation.

The Anambra State Government says it is leaving no stone unturned to restore sanity to the state.

Governor Chukwuma Soludo, speaking through his Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, said the continued protest was not in the best interest of the state.

Soludo has been pleading for the release of Kanu, which he believes will go a long way in restoring normalcy.

He said: “I’ve written, I’ve met with our leaders over the situation and I equally believe they will hearken to the voices of the masses in doing the right thing.”

In Enugu State where Mbah’s Executive Order stopping the protest has failed to work, a civil servant said the governor took a wrong approach.

“I think our governor placed the cart before the horse,” the civil servant, who does not want his name in print, said.

“Before he came into office one month ago, the markets were already gradually opening with traders conducting business seamlessly. It was only those of us in the civil service and the banks that were not working.

“However, since it has got to this level, I think the governor should make vehicles available to convey workers at a very cheap rate on Mondays.

“With this, there will no longer be serious excuses for people not to come to work on Mondays.”

A trader, Uche Mbanefo, differed.

He said: “The truth of the matter is that the people are scared that they may be attacked.

“The governor cannot force people to come out. People who have lost their loved ones in the past do not want to take further risks.

“My neighbour lost his Siena car which he was using for transport business. Nobody has assisted him since that incident. He has been the one bearing the loss alone.

“So, I think the only solution is to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu so that everyone will be free here. You don’t know who is enforcing this sit-at-home thing. It can be your neighbour.”

Another trader said: Let our governors seek the release of Kanu. Any other thing is like treating the symptoms.”

Less than a month after signing the executive order to stop the sit-at-home protest in Enugu State, suspected hoodlums attacked a petrol station at New Haven in Enugu, said to belong to the governor.

Their attempt to set the petrol station ablaze was repelled by security agents.

However, the governor is not relenting. Speaking during a visit to the Muslim Ummah at the Central Mosque, Enugu during the just concluded Eid el Kabir, Mbah reiterated that the ban on Monday sit-at-home had come to stay.

In signing the order on June 1, he had said the protest was restricting creativity, entrepreneurship and productivity in the state.

He ordered schools and other business owners to stop observing the order.

Security operatives are usually deployed to the streets on Sundays as part of the efforts to assure the people that their safety is guaranteed if they come out on Monday, but this has not improved the situation.

In addition, the governor convened a stakeholders’ town hall meeting where transporters, bankers, traders, workers, traditional and religious leaders, among others, hailed the cancellation and pledged their support.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma insists that residents have nothing to fear on Mondays and should therefore go about their business.

The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary Ogwuike Nwachuku, said: “I don’t think there is sit-at-home in Imo State. Workers have been going to work on Mondays. We don’t recognise it.

“The government has reassured Imo indigenes time and again that their safety is guaranteed and those who have been going to work have no reason to doubt the intention of the government.

“So, those who have decided to stay at home do so at their own discretion. For long the government has been telling the civil servants to go to work and they have been obeying that.

“You can visit the secretariat on Mondays to see what I am talking about.

“For those who don’t want to work, they on their own decided to sit-at-home. They shouldn’t blame government.

“Even IPOB itself on several occasions has said they are not the ones issuing the directive.

“I think it is a personal decision of anybody not to go to work. The government is prepared more than ever before to protect those who want to go to work to discharge their duties.”

Reacting, the state president of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Pastor Eze Richard, said that people should heed the advice of the governor and go about their normal businesses.

“As the chief security officer of the state, the governor has given directive that people should go about their normal businesses, and reassured the people of their safety.

“I think we should believe him. As I talk to you now, people are going about their businesses, workers are in their offices,” he said.

A trader who gave her name simply as Chidiema said some people were still living with the fear of unknown.

“When we think that normalcy has returned, the bad boys will strike, and this is largely responsible for the self- imposed sit-at-home.”

The President General, Coalition of Southeast Youth Leaders, Goodluck Ibem, noted that the people are afraid of coming out on Mondays because some of the governors have lost control of the people.

He said:”Why people are skeptical about the issue of sit-at-home is because some of our governors have lost control of the people; people have lost confidence in governance.

“When the issue started, the people obeyed the governors’ directives and came out. Unfortunately, some gunmen attacked innocent people, maimed and destroyed their property and killed the people.

“And after such losses, there was no single compensation from the governors. There is no security.

“The issue of insecurity in the Southeast is because the governors do not ensure that the resources meant for the people get to them.”

However, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Barde, assured the citizenry of the state that the Command had mandated all Area Commanders to embark on Operation Show of Force to assure the people of their safety and protection.

The police boss, who spoke through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said also that the use of self defence is allowed when a criminal approaches one.

Besides this, he said, the people have nothing to be afraid of as the Command has all it takes to protect lives and property in the state.

Barde said: “The command has been able to mandate all Area Commanders to embark on Operation Show of Force every Monday to reassure the people of their safety.

“Secondly, we have been organising various stakeholders meetings with business owners to come out to go about their normal businesses and to support us by reporting any suspected criminal or movement or call the police emergency lines.

“But besides that, sit-at-home is a thing of the past. There is nothing like it; it is not recognised by the law.

“Also, the use of self defence is allowed. If any person is coming to your shop or business place to disturb or harass you, you can actually defend yourselves without causing much problem to yourselves. But that one is dangerous.”

The protest is waning in Abia State as many residents now defy the sit-at-home order.

On several occasions, soldiers from the 14 Brigade Army Headquarters in Ohafia, Ohafia Local Government area of the state, have engaged militants who sought to enforce the protest in gun battles in Amangwu Ohafia, Okon Ohafia, Elu Ohafia and Amaekpu Ohafia.

Police and other security agencies have also engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

A recent clash between some protesting IPOB members and security agents at Osusu resulted in the death of four members of the ‘protesters’.

A financial expert and former Economic Adviser to Abia State Government, Chief Agu Ojukwu, expressed worries over the danger inherent in continued sit at home in the state.

Ojukwu, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, feared possible relocation of businesses from the Southeast by business owners who may see the continued sit-at-home as a potential danger to their business.

According to the former Economic Adviser, “any business is shutdown in Aba. The state will be losing nothing less than N2 billion.

“This doesn’t include revenue coming from other sources.

“What Southeast loses on each sit-at-home day cannot be calculated.

“We all know what happened during the Osisikankwu saga when businesses relocated out of Aba.

“The danger in the continued sit-at-home is that a lot of persons who are calling for continued Monday sit-at-home do not have serious business in Aba, Abia or Southeast.”

Reacting to the continued sit-at-home order in the state, the Special Adviser on Media to Governor Alex Otti, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, in a telephone interview with The Nation, noted that though the sit-at-home order was having negative impact on Abia economy, it is through good governance, justice and dialogue that a solution would be found.

Ekeoma said that the Otti administration would conduct a holistic review of the situation and know how best the new government would ensure that the situation was addressed so as to breath more life to Abia’s economy.

Sit-at-home discarded in Ebonyi

Residents of Ebonyi State hardly pay attention to the sit-at-home order and its organisers.

On Mondays the people go about their businesses as markets, offices and schools are always in full swing.

Security Consultant to the last administration in the state, Stanley Emegha, said the state government, working with security agencies, did not give the agitators any room to cause mischief as their camps were continually raided, making it difficult for them to have a stronghold in the state to launch attacks.

He said: “Also, on Mondays, security agents are stationed at strategic points across the city while a strong detachment in motorcade drives round the city continuously all day.

“This gave the people confidence to come out and go about their businesses.

It was, however, noted that movement out of the state does not take place on Mondays “because the sit-at-home is still being observed in other Southeast states, so we cannot force drivers and commuters to risk their lives to enter those states”.

Emegha, therefore, advised other state governments to devise similar measures which the present administration of Governor Francis Nwifuru has also adopted.

Ekpa: Why sit-at-home is needed

Factional leader of IPOB, Simon Ekpa, in a tweet yesterday, said a fresh round of sit-at-home would be observed in the South East between July 3 and 10, 2023 to demand the immediate release of Kanu by the DSS.

“We want to clarify that the sit-at-home from July 3rd to July 10th has come to stay. Biafra land will be on lockdown,” he said.

The spokesman for the main faction of IPOB, however, declared that there are no more sit at home protests in the South East.

He said:” IPOB has cancelled Monday sit-at-home.

“The sit-at-home order, be you governor, group or individuals, IPOB has nothing to do with those enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home.

“We support Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State or Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, and those who are behind the stopping of Monday sit-at-home.” (The Nation)

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