BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
The people of South East have expressed worries that despite the relaxation of the weekly sit-at-home order by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, led by Nnamdi Kanu, the separatist Igbo nationalist organisation continues to keep the zone under siege.
The Point reports that despite the relaxation order, the Monday sit-at-home is still being enforced up to about 85per cent in Ebonyi State just as the case is in many parts of the region.
The order, according to residents, has continued to cripple the economy of the zone every Monday as banks, markets, filling stations, streets, shops, government offices and public utilities reportedly shut down despite the counter directives by the governments of the affected states.
At the last count, our correspondent reported that in Ebonyi State alone, at least, six casualties had been confirmed with properties worth several millions of naira destroyed since the 9th of August 2021 when the order became effective.
A statement titled, ‘Why we are reviewing the Mondays indefinite sit-at-home order,’ credited to the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and made available to newsmen through Emma Powerful, the media and publicity secretary of the group, indicated that the order had been relaxed to take effect in the South East zone only on the days Kanu would be appearing in court.
The statement reads, “The suspension of the sit-at-home by IPOB was as a result of a direct order from the leader of this great movement, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. In accordance with the directive from our leader, our sit-at-home will, in the meantime, be observed on the date of our leader’s court appearances.
“The lPOB leadership urges Biafrans worldwide to take note of the next court appearance of our leader which is the 21st of October 2021. If, however, we have any reason or directive from the IPOB’s highest command that require us to reactivate the suspended weekly sit-at-home, the leadership will not hesitate to lift the suspension and continue with the civil action.
“The Nigeria government should heed now to the voice of reason coming from within Nigeria and outside the shores of Nigeria to unconditionally free our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and announce a date for Biafra referendum or plebiscite where our people will choose where they wish to belong before it is too late.”
Meanwhile, Simbad Ogbuatu, Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Ebonyi State, has described the violent approach to the agitations as unnecessary.
While calling for dialogue as a preferred option to violent agitation, he said, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with agitation. It has always been there. Youth’s restiveness is not a new thing. Our founding fathers engaged in it positively and brought us to where we are today. The likes of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Martin Elechi, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Michael Okpara and Mbanefo were youths when they began to make impactful contributions to national development.
“There were youth movements in those days that spearheaded the independence of Nigeria from the colonial masters. Today, the reverse is the case. We are destroying institutions, lives and properties in the name of agitation. The question is how will that solve the problems? We are complicating our matters by our actions. No sane man will burn down his house in pursuit of a rat. It will take a mad man to do that. But that is what we are doing indirectly in the name of Biafra agitation.
“What are we benefitting by burning police stations, INEC offices, disrespecting our leaders and killing our brothers and sisters? How will it give us Biafra? The late Ojukwu said: ‘I was proud leading the first Biafran agitation and war but the second one is not necessary.’ Of a truth, it is not necessary. We are beating the drum of war, forgetting the consequences.
“War is not rice and beans. War is calamity, starvation, deaths, hopelessness, lawlessness, deprivation, stagnation, killings. It’s not a joke but a serious affair. In times of war, there will be no freedom, no business, farming, food and no necessities of life anymore.
“The agitation we are seeing today is no more agitation. It has been hijacked by criminals whose aim is to hide under the platform and unleash terror on the society. Youth restiveness is a combination of actions, conducts or acts that constitute unwholesome socially unacceptable behaviours exhibited by youths in any community.
“The so-called agitations for Biafra and youth restiveness that we see today do more harms than good to us. Ebonyians are fortunate to have a man in the saddle who is well equipped and ready to handle issues to the benefits of Ebonyi people. But, the youths are sentimentally undermining it. The agitation sets back government’s efforts at improving the well-being of the citizens. Security of lives and properties of the people have been jeopardised. The agitation can trigger sectarian violence in the country, if not sensibly handled.
“Governor David Umahi said at a state house press conference that if the agitators can bring their matters to him, within six months, he shall address it squarely. I know that as the chairman of the South-East Governor’s Forum and co-chairman South-South Governor’s Forum, he is speaking the mind of other governors in South-East. We can trust him for that.
“Therefore, let us understand that killings and destruction of institutions of government will not give us Biafra but dialogue and consultation can take us to our dream land.”
A lecturer at the Ebonyi State University, Stephen Nwinya, said that notwithstanding the fact that Ndigbo have been wrongly treated and severely marginalized, the current violence and self-inflicted injury approach to getting a redress was unacceptable.
“I don’t know what IPOB intends to achieve with the sit-at-home. If it’s to attract FG attention then, I’m afraid, they are missing it. Is it the government that is not bothered by the havoc by bandits in the North, including the President’s state, Katsina that will be rattled by sit-at-home in the South-East? IPOB should know that the attention that the Niger Delta militants are getting is because of the direct impact of their activities on the nation’s economy, particularly oil production.
“IPOB’s sit-at-home doesn’t have such impact. It’s only self-inflicted injury on the zone. Already, many students in the zone missed Mathematics in the just concluded NECO/SSCE due to the order. We pray it won’t happen again during the ongoing WAEC/SSCE as that will set them back in their education pursuits. Also, imagine the economic impact of the order on a population whose greater percentage feeds from hand to mouth.
“While I am totally in support of the release of Kanu, the sit-at-home order is like shooting at one’s foot. Let’s first pursue those things that will make us need Nigeria less. A large chunk of food we eat in the South East is still from the North.”
A female resident, Pauline Ozor, said that the fact that people still keep indoors despite the relaxation of the order was as a result of fear.
The National President, Ebonyi State University Alumni, Kenneth Ereke, said that the order had done more harm than good to the South East zone.
“The weekly sit-at-home order, to me, is like adding salt upon injury for the people of the South East. It is capable of grounding economic activities in the zone. We are indirectly impoverishing our people as businesses are completely closed down for the period,” he said.
“”What are we benefitting by burning police stations, INEC offices, disrespecting our leaders and killing our brothers and sisters? How will it give us Biafra?”
The secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ebonyi State, Nnamdi Akpa, urged stakeholders in South East to brace up to the challenges in the zone by doing the needful.
“The sit-at-home has gone beyond IPOB. It should be of general concern to stakeholders. They should wake up and act before the situation goes out of hand,” he urged.
Also, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has urged the people of the state to ignore the sit-at-home rumour and go about their normal businesses, saying that those behind the order and rumours have been identified and will soon be arrested and arraigned.
His Special Adviser on Media, Oguwike Nwachuku, quoted the governor as giving the assurance on Sunday, while addressing the congregation after Church service at the Government House Chapel Owerri.
He thanked the people of Imo State who supported and contributed to the successful hosting of President Muhammadu Buhari last week when he visited the state.
To those who worked to sabotage the visit, the governor wished them well but urged all to “search their consciences in whatever they do.”
Addressing the hardship Imo people and residents are being subjected to by the oil marketers, the governor requested the petroleum marketers to immediately revert to normal price for petroleum products in the state, “as government will not continue to fold its arms and watch them mete out hardship on the people while they sell their products as black market.”
The governor warned that henceforth, “any filling station caught selling their products in black market will not only be sealed” but will “make sure the licenses of such filling stations are revoked.”
Governor Uzodimma added that government had set-up a taskforce to go round the state to identify and not only seal all filling stations cut in the act, but to arrest and make them face the full weight of the law.
He emphasised that “government cannot be complacent while her citizens suffer unwarranted and untold hardship.”
