Transporters demand improved security in South-East routes
About three weeks after the Onitsha Main Market was reopened after its closure for compliance with the sit-at-home order by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Anambra State government has shut down another popular market, the New Auto Spare Parts Association (NASPA) Nnewi Market, for a similar allegation.  

The order to close the market was issued by Governor Chukwuma Soludo through his Special Adviser on Trade and Markets, Evarist Ubah, following a considerably low turnout of traders at the market yesterday.
 
Announcing the closure of the market, in the company of the Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, AVM Ben Chiobi (rtd), and Nnewi’s Mayor, Echezona Anazodo, the governor’s aide said that the closure took immediate effect from midnight yesterday, February 23, 2026, and would reopen next Monday, March 2, 2026.
 
Ubah warned the traders to avoid the market until next Monday to avoid issues with law enforcement agents.
 
According to him, the market might face further closure if compliance isn’t substantial by next Monday, when the market reopens. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has lauded Soludo as full commercial activities return to the Onitsha Main Market.
 
Reacting to the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Dr Ejiofor Opara, lauded the governor’s action, describing any purported closure on Mondays as economic sabotage.                          
 
Opara said: “The Monday sit-at-home ended on April 4, 2022, when the governor and all the stakeholders came together after a rally and agreed on putting an end to the practice.”    

According to him, the recent call by the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to suspend further sit-at-home, couldn’t have just provided the tonic for the citizens, including the traders, to comply, stressing: “Soludo has been hellbent on the efforts to end the criminality masquerading as the Monday sit-at-home not just in Anambra State, but the entire South-East zone.

The governor has matched his calls to end the stay-at-home order with action.”

MEANWHILE, following the cancellation of the Monday sit-at-home in the South-East, some transporters have asked governments to improve security to restore confidence and revive interstate travel.
In separate interviews in Abuja, the transporters urged the federal and state governments (from the South-East) to improve road security in the region. According to them, greater collaboration among security structures will reduce criminal activities, allow traders and students to resume fully, and, in turn, facilitate the restoration of normalcy in the transportation sector.