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•As S’East people count losses
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had called for sit-at-home in the Southeast with effect from September 9, 2021, to protest the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, following his interception and rendition from Kenya about two years ago.
At the peak of the order, the entire region, particularly towns and cities were usually locked down on Mondays.
Many people saw the frequent sit-at-home in the zone as self-inflicted economic sabotage by the Igbo against themselves. Not a few queried the wisdom in shutting down Igbo land every Monday while the rest of Nigeria opened for business.
But after a while, IPOB cancelled the Monday ghost-town order it placed in the zone and urged people to go about their normal businesses.
Then, the hangover lingered even as hoodlums took advantage of the situation to wreak havoc on parts of Igboland. The economy of the zone got a deadly blow, while its internal security was stretched to the limit, too.
Scare-mongering was the order of the day in the region especially Onitsha, Nnewi and Ekwulobia in Anambra; Enugu and Nsukka in Enugu State; Orlu, Izombe in Imo State; as well as Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State.
Sunday Sun gathered that the chambers of commerce, business owners and traders are still counting their losses, though they initially put the cost of every Monday sit-at-home at over N8 billion.
A member of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) who wished not to be known had told us that they suffered over N50 billion loss in the first month of the Monday sit-at-home in the zone.
Of this amount, unverified statistics said the transport sector lost at least N3 billion any day there was lockdown in the region. An average of one million people move around, in and out of Southeast each day, at N3,000 per traveller.
Transport companies suffered deadly blows and major transport companies in Nigeria, are largely owned by Igbo businessmen and women.
Still on the cost implications of the Monday sit-at-home, Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in April 2022, revealed that more than 150 persons, including security personnel and civilians had been killed by criminals masquerading as sit-at-home enforcers.
Again, the governor also lamented that on every sit-at-home day, Anambra alone lost an estimated N19.6 billion and that many businesses had relocated to other states.
To halt the dastardly acts, the Anambra State Government took a number of steps to check the menace, including ordering the market leaders to open various markets in the state. The governor also ordered civil servants to be at their duty posts on Mondays.
But surprisingly, while life had since returned to other towns and cities in the region, Enugu State remained locked down on Mondays. People stayed at home out fear of possible attack by those claiming to be enforcing the long-cancelled order.
However, Governor Peter Mbah on assumption of office on May 29, took the bull by the horns with his bold proclamation cancelling Monday sit-at-home order in the state effective June 5.
The Enugu State government asked schools and businesses to quit observing the Monday sit-at-home and go about their activities without fear, assuring them that “adequate security measures have been taken to guarantee their safety.”
Mbah who added that a task force would be deployed to monitor compliance, on Monday, June 5, matched words with action as he stormed various parts of the state to see things for himself.
Addressing newsmen after the monitoring exercise, he said: “The primary objective of my visitation is largely to observe the level of compliance of the directive that we gave last week, declaring that we do not have sit-at-home in Enugu henceforth. The directive was meant to ensure that our people come out on the first working and productive day of the week.”
He commended civil servants, transporters, the business community and other institutions in the state for the significant compliance with government’s directive ending the Monday sit-at-home order.
Mbah put the compliance level at about 70 per cent, and was upbeat of total compliance on subsequent Mondays.
He visited Ministries and offices including Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Capital Territory, Ministry of Inter-Ministerial Affairs and Special Duties, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General, Office of the Head of Service, Office of the Surveyor-General, among others, where he was received by the civil servants and heads of MDAs.
Mbah also visited the Akwata section of Ogbete Market, Mayor Market situated along Agbani Road, among others, where he was warmly received by happy traders and their leaders.
“We do have a compliance level of about 60 to 70 per cent; and the order took effect from today. I am aware the circular to this effect was sent out on Friday. It may well be that not all the workers got the information that we no longer have sit-at-home on Mondays.
“Whether we succeed or fail in ending sit-at-home, we do that together as Enugu people. If we succeed, our collective success means we can rise together against intimidation. It is not anybody’s or government’s success. We need to take collective responsibility for our decision.
“We have to revive that spirit of hard work and culture of commerce and industry that our people are known for. We want to reinstate that; and that is exactly what we are doing,” the governor enthused.
Mbah assured the people of government’s commitment to the security of lives and property every other day of the week, Mondays inclusive.
As a follow-up to Mbah’s earlier consultations with various groups, he interacted with critical stakeholders at a town-hall meeting in Enugu, on the way forward.
Interestingly, the governor’s bold and creative approach has continued to elicit encomiums from across the state and beyond.
One of the biggest buy-ins came from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which threw its weight behind the cancellation of the sit-at-home order in Enugu State, provided the governor did not use security agents to harass, intimidate and brutalise the people.
IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful noted that Kanu had directed them to stop the sit-at-home to avoid criminals capitalizing on that to harm the people.
“If indeed Mr. Governor Mbah wants to return normalcy on Mondays, he will have the support of IPOB because those enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home are criminals. Someone wants to penalize our people, anybody enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home order is not helping IPOB and our leader Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu. Every member of IPOB and Biafrans should be coming out on Mondays for their business.
“Dr. Peter Mbah should be careful not to be used by enemies to target and attack IPOB members and ESN operatives. IPOB is not part of the problem, but part of the solution to the peace and security of our land. Enugu State governor should encourage our people to go about their businesses on Mondays but never order murderous security to force people out. The Monday sit-at-home at home is already whining down and shouldn’t be used to allow any military or police to coerce our people,” Powerful stated.
Aside IPOB and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), several other strong voices had backed the governor’s cancellation of Monday sit-at-home order.
Bishop of Enugu Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Calistus Onaga, the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, civil society organisations, as well as the student community, have all praised the governor for his progressive decision.
Eminent communication strategist and social influencer, Dr. Uche Nworah also applauded Mbah’s move and said: “It’s good that South-East governors are pushing back against this forced and mindless sit-at-home orders that have brought the economy of the region to its knees. Sit-at-home has become an excuse used by criminals operating in the Southeast to rob, kill, kidnap, intimidate and harass hapless South-Easterners. It has become a criminal enterprise in the Southeast run by different criminal organisations who dwell in camps in forests, from where they launch their attacks. If governments of the Southeast are not deploying technology to fight crime as part of their plans, they have not started. It is with drones and other technologies that they can penetrate inside the ungoverned spaces where these criminals hide.”
A civil society organisation, the Enugu Good Governance Group (E-3G) particularly praised Enugu residents, workers, and traders, and others for the substantial compliance with government’s directive to return to work and their businesses on Mondays, starting from June 5.
The group also extolled the governor for leading from the front in the efforts to restore productivity on Mondays, saluting IPOB, MASSOB and the church for supporting government’s efforts to end the sit-at-home.
A journalist, Charles Ogbu, said that the cancellation actually came late, but notwithstanding, he praised the governor for acting swiftly.
He stated that the N10billion estimation by government as loss was far less than the cost implication of the Monday sit-at-home.
Ogbu said: “So, the cancellation should have come a long time ago. We shouldn’t even have waited for the governor of Enugu State to issue an order for us to know that the sit-at-home is a self-destructive project. It is like you shooting yourself on the foot. Let’s take a look at the beginning of the sit-at-home. IPOB issued an order that people should start sitting at home to press for Nnamdi Kanu’s release. The same IPOB has since distanced itself from the sit at home. Nnamdi Kanu, the man on whose behalf people said they are sitting at home had since said you should start going out on Mondays because it is destroying the same region he loves.
“Look at Abakiliki, his home state (Simon Ekpa), the capital of Ebonyi State, do they sit at home on Mondays? They don’t. You can go and verify. In Abia State, the home town of Nnamdi Kanu, and in Umuahia where Kanu comes from, they don’t sit at home on Mondays. You can’t love Nnamdi Kanu more than his own people; his hometown where he is a Prince-in Afarukwu-they don’t sit at home on Mondays. In Owerri, capital of Imo State, people don’t sit at home on Mondays.
“In Awka, capital of Anambra State, the home state of Odimegwu Ojukwu, the Biafra leader, that is the greatest of them all when it comes to Biafra, they go to work on Monday. They open businesses on Mondays. So why is Enugu the only state where people sit at home every Monday? That tells you it’s not about Biafra. If it is, it will be happening in Umuahia, it will happen all over the Southeast.”
Many others who extolled the new Enugu governor’s commitment to recovering the state also declared that the IPOB leader’s freedom was central to sustainable peace in the Southeast region.
They appealed to the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu to as a matter of urgency free Kanu, urging the president not to toe the path of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who ignored court judgments and entreaties to let the destined IPOB leader go home.
