Residents protest monday sit-at-home order in Enugu

Protest rocked Enugu yesterday over the sit-at-home order given by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

This came as the state government sealed businesses that compiled with the order yesterday, against the warning by the governor, Peter Mbah, last week.

The Enugu State Government, yesterday, sealed businesses in and around the Enugu metropolis for failing to open yesterday.

The government had banned the Monday sit-at-home directive declared by a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, which had vowed to continue to protest the incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian government despite various court judgments ordering his release.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, had reminded residents and business concerns in the state that the ban on the illegal Monday sit-at-home order remains effective.
He said markets that fail to open to customers on Monday shall be shut down indefinitely.
“Given this, civil servants, schools, markets, financial institutions, business premises, and others, are hereby directed to resume normal activities on Monday.
“Government restates its resolve to apply sanctions against defaulters of its cancellation of the illegal Monday sit-at-home order in the state.
“Markets that fail to open to customers on Monday shall be shut down indefinitely. Shops in the markets that close on Monday shall be sealed and re-allocated to those eager to do business in the state.

Government extends the same warning of sanctions against schools, financial institutions, shopping malls, department stores, business premises, and others that may defy its directive,” he had said.

Yesterday, a video showed a group of task force men from Governor Mbah’s office sealing departmental stores at Spar Market, Enugu.
This came as some residents of the state yesterday defied the regular sit-at-home order in the southeast.
The residents filed out in their thousands to protest against the Monday sit-at-home order. Thousands of youths, men, and women walked the streets of the state in solidarity with their Governor, stressing that sit-at-home is no longer funny.
They were seen marching from Okpara Square to Eastern Shop down to the popular Ogbete market. The residents said the state is bleeding while appealing to the residents to come out for their normal business activities.
The protesters carried banners that read “Enough is Enough” as they marched through some streets.
For sometime, residents of the southeast have been observing a sit-at-home that was ordered by a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB,
Initially, IPOB started the sit-at-home campaign to push for the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
But the initiative was hijacked by Simon Ekpa, who has allegedly been empowering thugs to cause havoc in the region under the guise of enforcing the order.
The sit-at-home has led to economic hardship in the region as people hardly come out on Mondays and whenever the order is given.