A detachment of heavily armed security operatives, comprising soldiers, anti-riot police, and plain-clothed DSS operatives, has taken over the premises and roads leading into and around the expansive market.

The stern-looking, heavily armed officers have cordoned off the surrounding areas of the popular market on a 24-hour basis to ensure no one attempts to gain entry to the market.

The deployment of the security agencies was in response to an order by the Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, to shut down the market for the next one week, in the first instance, due to the traders’ compliance with the Monday sit-at-home directive issued by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a non-state actor.

‎The State’s Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, visited the market early Tuesday morning to observe and report to the government, and to verify and confirm that the order on the closure was carried out to the letter.

‎According to the commissioner, the market “will remain closed from Monday, January 26, 2026, to Saturday, January 31, 2026 and will only reopen for business on Monday, February 2, 2026”.

‎The closure was due to non-compliance with the government’s earlier directive to end the Monday Sit-at-Home exercise, which costs the state an estimated N8 billion each Monday, amounting to N19.6 billion across the South East each week, while disrupting work and economic activities, leaving the state’s economy haemorrhaging.

Mefor said that traders were further warned that if they were not ready to resume operations on Monday, February 2, 2026, and on every other Monday, the market would face a one-month closure from next Monday.

He called on the public to stay away from the Main Market during this period to avoid any unpleasant encounters with security personnel already deployed to the area.

‎He said that all other markets in Anambra State remain open and were expected to operate on Mondays, stressing that any market found closed on Mondays will face similar closure.
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According to him, the State government assured traders and citizens alike of maximum protection and security, and encouraged them to report any security breaches to 5111.

Meanwhile, security operatives were seen throughout the vicinity of the main market.

Some traders who turned up on Tuesday met soldiers, policemen and other plainclothes armed officers patrolling the market area on foot.

Their Armoured Personnel Carriers were also stationed at strategic locations around the adjoining streets and at the main arena.

When their numbers continued growing, the officers told them to disperse and go home in peace.

But the traders were mainly young boys, apprentices, and street urchins who didn’t have any stake in the market, and they were reared to foment trouble through protest.

Several calls to the Chairman of the Main Market Traders’ Association, Chijioke Okpalugo, rang long and went unanswered. One of the executive members who didn’t want his name in the media disclosed that they were “in a strategic emergency meeting over the unfortunate development.”

He said they would make the outcome public as soon as they conclude.