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From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
Enugu State government has warned that it would shutdown indefinitely any school, market or shop that failed to open and function normally on account of the illegal one week sit-at-home order declared by faceless non-state actors in the state.
The government which expressed dismay over alleged directives by proprietors of private schools in the state to their pupils and students not to come to school from Monday because of the illegal sit-at-home order, threatened to revoke with immediate effect license of school that refused to function normally.
It also warned that it would deploy the full instrumentality of the law such as the Cybercrime Act 2015 to go after and prosecute anybody, individuals, groups and organisations that were intentionally encouraging the illegal sit-at-home order, by “instilling fear on residents, raising false alarm to disturb public peace, etc, through fake news sharing and propagation of falsehood connected with the illegal sit-at-home order on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.”
In a public service announcement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, the government reiterated its ban on any form of illegal sit-at-home in all parts of the state, describing it as evil and antithetical to all values that the people hold dear to, such as the Igbo spirit of industry, hard work, creativity and productivity.
While urging the public to go about their normal daily activities as it had put in place adequate security measures to protect lives and property, government warned that it would “no longer sit by and watch faceless groups and misguided individuals issue illegal orders, dictating to us how to lead our lives, when to go to work or market and when our children go to school, while they ply their trade and their children go to school. This is no longer acceptable and must be confronted and defeated with every power and resources at our disposal.”
It, however, said that its resolve to enforce some laws was not an attempt to stop the people from exercising their lawful rights of expression saying, “This, however, is by no means, depriving citizens freedom of speech and information as enshrined in the constitution.”
