IPOB’s sit-at-home order paralyses Enugu

Except students involved in the National Examination Council (NECO), other activities in Enugu State were grounded on Monday as a result of the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to press for the release of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is in detention.

Commercial activities and businesses owned by federal, state, and private individuals were closed in major parts of the Enugu capital, just as the roads were deserted as residents complied with the order.

IPOB spokesperson, Emma Powerful, last week asked residents of the southeast to observe August 9 as “ghost Monday” to force the Federal Government to release Kanu. He had said that the “total lockdown” would continue “every Monday from 6 am to 6pm until Kanu is released unconditionally from detention.”

In compliance with the directive, commercial banks, schools, shops, malls were shut down.

Various parts of the state were also without electricity supply throughout the duration of the sit at home. Petrol and gas stations were also closed for business.

Government workers at the Enugu Secretariat did not report to work despite the assurance from the state that it would protect them.

Our correspondent observed that the secretariat at noon was a ghost area as no human being or activity could be sighted around it.

Newspaper Vendors in different parts of the state were not available for business. The Monday edition of the national dailies was not supplied due to the restriction of movement imposed by IPOB’s sit-at-home order.

Police and other security operatives were stationed at strategic locations to ensure law and order.