Despite Southeast governors’ assurances of maximum protection to deter residents from obeying the two-day sit-at-home order by an unknown person, compliance was total and unprecedented. This has sparked new concerns about the public trust in their political leaders to protect them from the antics of non-state actors who seek to destroy the region’s economy. LAWRENCE NJOKU reports.
A fresh worry is overwhelming the Southeast as the region gradually returns to its dark days. The recovery it made in her economy with the relative stability from the dwindling sit-at-home seems threatened and fast giving way to another round of instability and control by non-state actors.
Indeed, anybody who witnessed the level of compliance to the Monday and Tuesday sit-at-home last week would readily agree that the region was returning to the trenches, succumbing to unknown authorities instead of those they elected through the ballots.
On a faithful morning a fortnight ago, a man who wore glasses had made a video of himself, which he circulated on social media appealing to residents of the Southeast to observe a sit-at-home to avoid a possible calamity that may follow an event they were planning for the two days in the region.
He had said in the video, “Please pay attention. If you are Igbo living in Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Enugu or Anambra states, this announcement is for you. On October 21 and 22, 2024 please stay in your house with your family. Don’t come out. I am begging you in the name of God. Ask me why. On that day, Biafra warriors will be launching their armoured cars. That day is sit-at-home.
“The same day, they will launch the Biafra flag. The Nigerian security officials will revolt and come against them and there will be problems. So, stay in your homes for peace to reign.”
Attached to the video were pictures of armoured vehicles manned by soldiers making gun-like sounds in the background. The narrator claimed such sounds would reverberate those two days in the region.
Despite the confusion over the identity of those behind the order, the video, however, spread like wildfire. Those not privileged to watch the video went about town with various versions of what they heard. “We heard Kanu will be going to court on those days”, someone said.
“I heard it is for the Biafra celebration and only those who have registered with Biafra with their identity cards should be seen outside,” another said. Yet, some stated that “Those days will be used to comb bushes in Igboland by Biafra soldiers to flush out kidnappers and hoodlums creating problems in the region”. The impression that it would be calamitous for anyone seen on the road created anxiety and fear.
Curiously, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) denied issuing any sit-at-home orders on those days in the region. IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful attributed the viral video to the handiwork of “criminal elements” bent on giving the struggle a bad name. He indicated that IPOB “does not issue sit-at-home orders without a good reason.”
Also, the leader of a faction of IPOB, Mr Simeon Ekpa, denied ordering a sit-at-home in the region.
But this was not to be and irrespective of the assurances, on Friday, October 19, schools, especially the ones privately owned, approved an emergency holiday for their students. They asked them to stay at home for those two days and resume activities on Wednesday, October 23.
One of the messages from one of the private schools spotted by The Guardian to parents read, “Dear Parents, we are sorry to inform you that there will be no school on Monday, 21 and Tuesday 22, October. This is to prevent any untoward action following videos circulating on social media calling for sit-at-home on those days. Please, keep your children at home and bring them back to school on 23 October (Wednesday).”
On the stated dates last week, the compliance with the order from residents was total. Even a war-ravaged zone may not have suffered the level of desertion that was the case for those two days last week.
Indeed, the glamour and expectations associated with the beginning of a new week were shattered as residents withdrew from the streets in response to the sit-at-home order.
Not only were streets deserted, but banks and shops were firmly closed, while human and vehicular traffic was minimal, with occasional tricycle and vehicle movements. This was due to the uncertainty that obscured the call.
Unfortunately, those who waited to hear or witness the launch of the armoured vehicles and the Biafra flags were disappointed as it never happened. There was nowhere in the region that hosted the launch of Biafra armoured vehicles or Biafra flags, even as security was kept on high alert.
Did they fool the people? Is this the new antics by non-state actors to make residents respond to calls for civil disobedience since they appear to have been fed up with the persistent sit-at-home orders by pro-Biafra groups?
The development has continued to raise unanswered questions about the real identity of the callers of the sit-at-home and what they intended to achieve with it. The other is when did the Southeast region become so complacent that it could respond to anything without verifying the authenticity of the information? Again, is the lack of credibility and confidence that the residents passed on their political leaders by not adhering to their security assurances, but obeyed the call from an unknown source.
While the region is yet to recover from the two days of sit-at-home with its attendant economic losses and dislocations, the Biafra Republic Government In–Exile, led by Simeon Ekpa, has vowed to shut down all Federal Courts in the region from October 29.
Ekpa, who issued the order last week, stated that the Nigerian judicial system has contributed to insecurity in the region by installing anti-people governors, citing Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State as an example. He also asked judges of non-Biafran descent to leave the region, while demanding the release of all detained Biafrans to the region.
He listed the National Industrial Court (NIC) among the Federal Courts, stressing that,” these institutions have brought anarchy, death, insecurity, and instability instead of justice, equity and fairness.”
He said, “These institutions will therefore be in lockdown indefinitely from 29-10-24. Every judge that is not from Biafraland is hereby requested to go back to their region, as their security will no longer be guaranteed.”
Shortly following the order on courts is the threat to lockdown Enugu State on Tuesday, October 29, in response to the murder of an Enugu-based traditional Ogene musician, Okezie Chikezie Mba, popularly called Igbo-Jah by a police officer.
The musician was reportedly leaving the premises of the Anti-Cult Tactical Command after “a friendly visit” when, for reasons yet to be ascertained, the police officer fired his rifle, hitting the victim.
The Police had arrested and detained the officer who committed the act. But Ekpa said that the lockdown would be used, “to fish out killers of this innocent man. Enough is enough.”
These developments are beginning to worry residents. Igbo youths, under the aegis of the Coalition of Southeast Youth Leaders (COSEYL), said unless something is done to prevent a repeat, any person could wake up any day to record any message and circulate it on social media and the people will respond to it.
“One question that has remained unanswered is who is behind the sit-at-home order that crippled commercial activities for two days last week? Our governors must rise and defend the people. This is a joke taken too far”, they said.
National President, Goodluck Ibem urged President Bola Tinubu to “please release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to end this embarrassing situation where individuals use his incarceration to inflict pain, hardship and economic stagnation in the southeast zone and the nation at large.”
The Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ibuchukwu Ezike said, “I don’t know the convener of the sit-at-home protest order let alone their grievance(s) but the truth is that Nigeria is sinking. Nigerians are unhappy and a lot of the people are protesting in many ways. In a lawless, corrupt, unjust and anarchical society, nothing good works. Laws are grossly disobeyed and everyone does or says what he or she likes because there are no laws or if there may be any, they are not respected.
“Despite hunger and anger in the land, law-abiding citizens are arrested, extorted, detained and imprisoned. The police and other security agencies are hunting innocent citizens while celebrating criminals in power. Why is Nnamdi Kanu detained and being brutalised for years? Same with the end-bad-governance protesters. This government is provoking people to action in so many ways and this sit-at-home protest, I think, plus other anti-people policies of the government are responsible for these pockets of protests all over the places, in the East, Centre, North, West and so on.”
A Civil Rights Advocate, Ifeanyi Nwalioba, stated that it was a failure on the part of the governors of the southeast region, stressing that, “for a video message by an unknown entity to have held an entire region down for two days is as good as saying that the people no longer have confidence in their governors.”
He continued, “If indeed they trust their governors, I do not see how they will lock up businesses, banks, schools and even government offices to sit at home for two days. For me, it is high time that our leaders change, and introduce policies and actions that are people-oriented to move the region forward. Standing with their people to see that Nnamdi Kanu is released will put a stop to all these.”
In July this year, Southeast governors had risen from their meeting and resolved to visit President Bola Tinubu to canvas the release of Kanu. They stated that securing the release of Kanu was crucial to solving the security challenges in the region. Why the governors have not fulfilled the promise since the meeting ended is yet to be ascertained.
