South-East Governors Charged to Prevent Sit-at-Home Orders

Governors of the South East region have been charged to take steps to prevent thugs implementing sit-at-home orders from overwhelming the populace.

A former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, made the comment following directives from the factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Simon Ekpa that there will be a total lockdown in Biafraland from Monday, July 31, 2023, to Friday, August 4, 2023  

Giving the directives on Tuesday, Ekpa said, “Saturday, August 5, 2023, and Sunday, August 6, 2023, all Biafran markets will open respectively.

“Monday, August 7, 2023, to Friday, August 11, 2023, there will be total lockdown in Biafraland; Saturday, August 12,  2023, and Sunday, August 13,  2023 (Break), all Biafran markets will open; Monday, August 14, 2023, there will be lockdown in Biafraland.

“We hereby call on all market leaders to strictly adhere to this order and treat it with utmost seriousness.”

But in a swift reaction, Dr Nwodo noted that the continues sit-at-home orders in the South East, by Ekpa is not the best way to exert pressure on the Federal Government to free Nnamdi Kanu but it is endangering the lives and property of the residents of the regions.

The former governor of Enugu State said, “Does Simon Ekpa know that some people in South East Nigeria are in hospitals and that medical personnel need to attend to their health needs? He is strangulating our economy by declaring frequent sit-at-home orders.

“I always say that there are other ways to put pressure on the Federal Government to obey court orders and release Nnamdi Kanu. The Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanyu, the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and other stakeholders from South East continue to appeal to the conscience of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, to release Kanu, so that peace can return to South East.

“There are other ways that do not constitute a danger to the lives and economy of residents and people of South East than what Ekpa is doing. Can he declare sit-at-home in any part of Finland where he is currently residing?

“We must equally put pressure on Governors of South East and the security agencies to guarantee the security of lives and properties of the residents of South East region. We must also cooperate with our governors in ensuring that the few miscreants who enforce the sit-at-home orders are defeated, ” he said.

Meanwhile, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Henry Okoye, has said that its personnel are now on top of the sit-at-home order and ready to deal with it.

Speaking to newsmen in Owerri, he said, “It is pertinent to state that Imo Police Command is aware of the videos that surfaced last weekend on various social media platforms where unrepentant and subversive criminal syndicates suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate Eastern Security Network (ESN).

“They were seen shooting sporadically and attacking residents in Irete and Amakohia with the sole aim of creating apprehension amongst the populace and forcing them to obey an unlawfully imposed sit-at-home order by IPOB/ESN disgruntled elements who are hell-bent on disturbing the socio-economic activities of the masses and bringing untold hardship to the good people of this state.

“The Commissioner of Police assertively states that the Command is on top of the situation. The sit-at-home enforcers sighted along the said axis and other areas in the state were given a hot chase by Police operatives forcing them to flee with various degrees of gunshot injuries. More so, adequate proactive security measures have been emplaced to forestall future occurrences.

“The various stakeholders of Imo State are encouraged to talk to their subjects as Imo Police Command will not hesitate to deal ruthlessly with any subversive criminal syndicate or individual caught enforcing the unlawful sit-at-home order or perpetrating any other form of criminality,” Okoye said.