A friend of mine sent me a notice of his mother’s 88th birthday holding in a community in Umuahia, Abia State, this month. After acknowledging his invitation and sending my best wishes for his mother, I asked when he would be travelling to the village for the Christmas and the birthday celebrations. He replied: “We will be travelling on the 18th of December.”
Shortly after, my friend sent another message: “I just remembered. December 18th is Monday and will be sit-at-home. Most likely, we’ll be travelling on the 16th of December.”
Like other Igbo and non-indigenes living in the South East of Nigeria or travelling to this part of the country, my friend had to adjust his travel plans to avoid Monday. Monday, the first business day of the week, has become an albatross for the Igbo because of the sit-at-home adherence, which has affected life and activities in the South East. Monday, for many, has become a day of rest, a day to stay away from business and work. The day has inadvertently become an extension of the weekend. In the South East, it is: Three days make a weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday)!
Although the momentum has reduced, Monday in the South East is seen as no-work and no-business day. This is not by design. For the people, in order to avoid trouble and be safe, staying away from Monday is the beginning of wisdom.
At Christmas, the sit-at-home phenomenon is, again, going to be a blight on the festivities. Consciously and unconsciously, people try to avoid Monday like a plague. Although the southeastern state governments and the majority of the people are not in support of the sit-at-home, the willpower to resist it has been lacking. It is like the spirit is willing but the body is weak. This is really surprising. The Igbo known for strength against deprivation are now waxing cold.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the organisation agitating for the sovereignty of Biafra, which initially declared a sit-at-home to protest the extraordinary rendition and detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has many times said that the sit-at-home had been cancelled. The group has consistently stated that those calling for sit-at-home and/or enforcing it are not acting on its behalf. It had called on residents of the South East to ignore the order and go about their normal businesses. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had also, from prison, declared an end to the sit-at-home through his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, Esq. Kanu did this when his instruction to Mr. Simon Ekpa, who appears to be the face of sit-at-home, to publicly declare an end to it was not carried out. By the various declaration against sit-at-home, this phenomenon should have ended for the South East to come alive again.
Take it or leave it, sit-at-home and insecurity have dealt a devastating blow on the South East. The Igbo who desire to visit home now avoid their communities, not being sure of their safety. Businesses have suffered irreparable losses and still suffering. Industries and companies operate below capacity, losing money in the process. It is a loss-loss situation.
The situation in the South East is really bad, despite the pretension. Head or tail, the South East loses. When markets and business places are shut, when people are mortally afraid to come out or visit their communities, when state governments spend enormous resources that should ordinarily been used for development to fight crime and criminals, when innocent lives are being lost on the side of security agencies and communities owing to the activities of those whose thoughts are one-sided, when those who are trying to make the South East ungovernable, owing to ignorance of the implications of their actions, remain fixated, a people lose completely.
In the South East, reason has taken flight because of the activities of people who are, knowingly and unknowingly, destroying their region. There have been contentions as to those responsible for this ugly situation in the South East. Some people believe that misguided Igbo are responsible. If this is true, it is inconceivable that people proclaiming to be fighting the cause of their brothers and sisters would take actions that would negatively affect them. It makes no sense for Igbo to fight or work against Igbo. If people observe sit-at-home, the South East loses. If markets and business centres are shut, South East loses. If there is insecurity, South East loses. No community, state or country would thrive in the midst of insecurity or activities that work against socio-economic development.
There is also the belief that those causing insecurity or enforcing sit-at-home are non-Igbo who have elected to cause problems in the region. Where this is true, it is also a big indictment on the Igbo that outsiders could come and camp in their land to cause problems, while the owners of the land don’t single them out and expose them. I wonder if there is any Igbo community whatsoever where visitors are not easily identified.
Kudos must be given to South East governors who have made conscious efforts to end sit-at-home. Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has tried in fighting the people trying to make his state unsafe and unattractive for business. His Truth and Reconciliation Committee was set up to find out the causes of the problem and proffer solutions to them. As he implements the preliminary recommendations of the committee, while awaiting the completion of the task, Soludo needs everybody’s support to keep Anambra State safe.
Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Pater Mbah, has also shown determination to end sit-at-home and get his state working. His declaration that those working to cripple activities in the state, in the name of sit-at-home, would not be spared and the fact that he is matching his words with action have shown that he knows that self-destruction is foolish. Mbah deserves everybody’s commendation and support.
Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has also exhibited courage at stopping criminality and the guarantee of security. His bold step in evicting people living inside the market at Lokpanta and making the place unsafe, for example, has proved that, in his fight against criminality, nobody and no group of people is untouchable. The governor should remain steadfast in this resolve and make the policy all-embracing.
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has been battling to keep the state safe. In efforts to arrest insecurity, he has come under severe criticism, with allegations that he is fighting against his people. Efforts to displace those trying to hold territories in Orsu, Omuma and Orlu areas would always give Uzodimma a bad name, but no governor worth his salt would sit down and watch while a section of his state is made conquered territory.
With the collective and individual efforts of the South East governors, the stranglehold of criminals would be curtailed. This is why the recent South East Security Summit hosted in Owerri, the Imo State capital, was auspicious. Such collective efforts would make the achievement of results easier.
However, it must be stated that the continued detention of Kanu has exacerbated the problem in the South East. A time has come for justice to be done and be seen to be done, in relation to Kanu. The hallmark of democracy is the rule of law. When the court of law has dispensed justice, to the best of its ability, the burden is on the authorities to obey. Kanu got favourable judgment from the Court of Appeal, which, on October 13, 2022, ordered his release, emphatically stating that his extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria was illegal.
The Supreme Court would, next Friday, deliver judgment on this matter, having reserved ruling. This is a window to address the bad situation in the South East. Following point of law, justices of the Supreme Court could save the South East the trauma that is prevalent by freeing Kanu. The release of the pro-Biafra agitator would douse the tension in the region. Those who are hiding under the agitation for the release of Kanu to perpetrate evil in the South East would have no basis for their disruptive actions, if Kanu regains freedom forthwith. Nigerians look up to the Supreme Court to save the government the embarrassment caused by the ill-conceived extraordinary rendition.
Setting the South East free from anti-progress is a battle that must be won. Igbo believe this. Men and women of conscience believe this.