Despite the formal cancellation of the Monday sit-at-home order in the Southeast region by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which it had imposed on the zone as part of its ‘strategies’ to secure freedom for its imprisoned leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, there are indications that it would take a long time for the region to recover from the perils of the four and a half years abnormality. This is as a result of the level of devastation, destruction, disruptions and fear visited on the region in the attempt to enforce the order by those who propagated it, LAWRENCE NJOKU writes.

ON July 31, 2021, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group at the forefront of the campaign for the restoration of the defunct Biafra republic had announced a weekly Monday sit-at-home following the arrest of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government.

Kanu was arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria by the government to face trial for alleged terrorism, for which he has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court.

“We declare every Monday sit-at-home throughout Biafra land until our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, regains his freedom. This declaration takes effect from Monday, August 9, 2021. From that day, Biafra land will be on lockdown every Monday from 6:00am to 6:00pm until our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who was unlawfully abducted in Kenya and illegally detained by the Federal Government of Nigeria is released.

“Consequently, all institutions, public and private, transport companies, schools, banks, markets, airports and sea ports in Biafra land must shut down every Monday beginning from August 9.

“People are to remain indoors to register their concern over the fate of our leader and the rest of all agitators languishing in various security detentions,” IPOB had said in a statement.

The statement, signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, further designated the sit-at-home day as “ghost Monday.”

Unfortunately, this declaration became an albatross on the region. To ensure it was fully complied with as well as demonstrate their control of the region, proponents of the order went all out to compel the residents to remain indoors. They took to the streets to attack those who flouted it. They created fear and panic around the people.

With the spread of fear among residents that obedience to the order was the beginning of wisdom, not too long, some hoodlums in the guise of working for the restoration of Biafra cashed in on the directive and began to waste human lives, set public and private buildings ablaze, attack security personnel and establishments and generally make the zone a living hell for the residents.

Those who held different opinions about the sit-at-home as a means to secure Kanu’s release became targets. Some of them escaped from the region alive, but some did not. Some had their means of livelihood attacked and destroyed. Some had their country homes attacked, nay set ablaze.

Traditional rulers were not spared; they were either killed or chased away from their communities, even as hoodlums began to occupy communities. Businesses crumbled as their owners could not run them properly. Jobs were lost as some businesses that could not face the raging insecurity relocated out of the Southeast.

In communities, some hoodlums in the guise of Biafra struggle became lords, imposing levies on handicapped members in the guise of securing them against invaders. They also charged fees for burials and other ceremonies slated to hold in communities. Failure to pay amounted to exposing oneself to attack.

School children also paid the price. Aside from missing classes on Mondays, they were denied writing their external examinations. On several occasions, WAEC and NECO candidates did not write certain exams scheduled on Monday, while those who wrote did so under a tense atmosphere.

The disruptions were also carried to federal establishments, especially security formations. Policemen and soldiers, who were deployed to protect helpless residents, were mulled down. Several police stations were burnt down and their equipment carted away.

It soon affected recruitments into organisations controlled by the Federal Government as the group dissuaded youths from enrolling into the country’s security forces; making it impossible for the region to fill its quota in the security establishments year after year.

Intervention by Governors
IN 2023, a report by the Centre For Investigation revealed that the Southeast region was losing an average of $10 billion to Monday sit-at-home.

The Anambra State government, on its part, stated that it was losing approximately N8 billion every Monday due to the sit-at-home order. It added that the entire region loses over N19.6 billion weekly to the sit-at-home order.

Apparently perturbed by the dark shadows the trend had cast on the governance and economy of the region, the governors of the region moved to tackle it. Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, was the first to ban the Monday sit-at-home.

Mbah had, after a town hall meeting soon after assuming office in 2023, declared: “The idea behind sitting at home on Monday, the first working and business day of the week, is abominable and antithetical to greatness and the spirit of industry we profess to have inherited from our forebears. They cannot be us. It does colossal damage to us.

“For us to transit from a public service economy to a private sector-driven one, we must free our markets from the shackles of restriction to commerce. If indeed we aspire and anticipate an influx of private sector practitioners and investors in Enugu State, we must know that this will not happen where the perception of us is that of unproductive people.”

He, therefore, directed that effective June 5, 2023, “there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State,” assuring that the government would enforce it with all the powers at its disposal.

He pleaded with market men and women as well as the corporate world, industries, schools, civil servants, among others, to return to full activities on Monday.

Despite his efforts, several businesses and residents continued to stay away from their offices and business places on Mondays, especially in rural communities in the state.

In Anambra state, it took the recent closure of the Onitsha Main Market for one week and a threat to revoke ownership of the market or even demolish it by Governor Charles Soludo for traders to resume activities on Mondays in the market. Even at that, certain traders have not fully returned for activities, as areas in the state such as Lilu in Ihiala remain in the grip of non-state actors who see the community as their conquered territory.

In Imo State, most activities go on in the state capital, Owerri, on Mondays. However, several communities are yet to recover from attacks inflicted on them by the enforcers of the sit-at-home order. Parts of Okigwe, Arondizuogu and Orsuihiteukwa in Orlu Local Council of the state are still enclaves of the enforcers of the sit-at-home order where residents tread with caution on Mondays.

In Abia State, while the state capital, Umuahia, bubbles on Mondays, it is not so in Aba, which remains the commercial nerve centre of the state. In Aba, Mondays are without activities. Schools, banks, offices and markets go to sleep.

In Ebonyi State, business activities blossom on Mondays in Abakaliki, the state capital, but most communities are either deserted or observe partial economic activities.

And IPOB’s U-Turn
APPARENTLY swayed by the negative impact of the order on the region and the fact that it has failed to move the Federal Government into releasing Kanu, four and a half years after, the IPOB, in a statement last Sunday, February 8, declared that it had totally and officially cancelled Monday sit-at-home in the region.
The group urged residents of Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states to resume their normal activities on Mondays.

Media and Publicity Secretary of the group, Emma Powerful, who signed the statement, said the directive came from its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He asked those in doubt about the directive to reach out to Kanu, who is in prison in Sokoto, to reconfirm with him.

Powerful said there was no need, excuse, or justification for anyone to stay at home on Mondays, adding that “all markets, schools, offices, transport services, and economic activities must resume fully and normally.”

Stressing that it was a clear and unequivocal order, he called on the Southeast residents to now open their shops, go to work, and send their children to school without fear.

But on Monday, February 9, the cancellation order did not make any difference in many parts of the region. Those who had not opened their shops on Mondays while the sit-at-home order lasted remained indoors; school children that had not been attending school did not go; banks that had not been operating did not open; commercial transport operators who never operated parked their vehicles.

Most of those interviewed insisted they didn’t need anybody’s directive to reopen in the first place, even as they narrated certain ugly incidents including threats and attacks perpetrated by the enforcers of the sit-at-home order that occasioned their closure on Mondays at the first instance. Some of those in business said they were owners of their establishments and could decide when and how to run them, irrespective of any order.

The Road to Recovery
IN spite of the disdain that has greeted the cancellation of the Monday sit-at-home by the IPOB, it is indisputable that there is a need to restore normalcy in the region, which must encompass reviving its educational, economic, governance and security structures that once stood the region out.

However, many residents noted that it would take extra efforts to put the region back on its feet, regretting that the enforcers of the sit-at-home order intentionally spilt the blood of fellow Igbo men and women; and also destroyed their properties and businesses, which was unheard of in the region in the past.

Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ibuchukwu Ezike, stated that the way and manner the Monday sit-at-home was enforced was such that no individual, government or institution would easily end it.

He stated that Monday sit-at-home has been “internalised” by residents, stressing that it would only take the individual conviction of residents to come out on Monday to do activities.

Ezike, who emphasised the need to restore full activities on Mondays in the region, said that the past four and a half years had taken a lot out of the region, stressing that the political leadership of the region should lead in the recovery efforts.

“The people are in need of security for their lives and property. The people are desirous of the government they can trust. The people want leaders that are accountable and are ready to attend to their needs. A lot has happened to the Southeast in the past four and a half years. Businesses have left the region; jobs have been lost; lives have been lost. So, we need to rebuild the confidence of the people so as to gain their support in the activities of the government,” he stated.

Igbo youths under the aegis of Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), while reflecting on the impact of sit-at-home order on the region, expressed deep concern over the enormous human, economic and educational losses suffered by the people of the region within the period.

President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, stated that “across the region, countless families have lost their means of livelihood, businesses collapsed, vehicles and property destroyed and innocent lives cut at their prime,” adding that vibrant commercial cities have experienced prolonged economic paralysis.

The group recalled the tragic case of a pregnant woman who was under labour and was being taken to the hospital in Orlu, Imo State by the husband on a Monday, but was burnt alive in the vehicle conveying her despite her groaning, after the husband escaped.

“Most troubling is the devastating impact on education. Thousands of students in the Southeast have been repeatedly prevented from sitting for critical national examinations such as WAEC, JAMB and NECO. Many students now live in fear, face delayed academic progression, or have completely dropped out of school.”

He added that COSEYL firmly believes that no struggle, grievance or agitation should come at the expense of the education, safety, and economic survival of innocent citizens, stressing that the disruptions had undermined the collective progress of Ndigbo.

To recover from these losses, Ibem called for immediate protection of education, such that schools should operate freely and guarantee uninterrupted access to all national and regional examinations going further without fear or intimidation.

“Governments of the region should introduce targeted economic recovery packages for traders, transporters, artisans, and small business owners affected by the prolonged sit-at-home disruptions as well as engage stakeholders and youths in meaningful dialogue on how to move the region forward,” he said.

Ibem added that a coordinated effort is needed to rebuild trust, ensure safety, and restore normal socio-economic activities across the Southeast, adding that the welfare of the people should be prioritised.

Also speaking, an Anambra-based lawyer, James Chukwudi, noted that revamping the Southeast after the devastation that came with the Monday sit-at-home would require deliberate effort and planning, stressing that, “it is not a project of five years.”

He added: “You know it is easy to destroy but difficult to build. Some of the property that was destroyed in the course of this episode took years to be acquired. I remember the Ohanaeze President General that died. His death was caused by the destruction of his home, where he invested so much, not just in the quality of the building, but also all his efforts academically and socially as a man.

“To restore the Southeast, I think the IPOB should go beyond calling for cessation of Monday sit-at-home; IPOB should apologise to Ndigbo for allowing a peaceful action slip off her hands. They knew they did not have the capacity to manage the sit-at-home and it was hijacked by a murderous group who went about inflicting pain on the people.

“A lot of people lost their loved ones to the sit-at-home order and these people will not forget the experiences in a hurry.

They would always hold the system responsible for the unfortunate development. So, for me, it is not enough to say they have called off the sit-at-home permanently. Let the group apologise for the wrongs created by their unfortunate order. No one creates hardship for the people they love; but in this case, they created pains and yet claimed they love the people.

“In the same vein, our political leaders should apologise also to the people and accept that they failed the people. That is where the restoration should begin. We gave them power to rule us but they ended up submitting the same power to non-state actors who decimated the people in their presence. That is all I can say,” he stated.

Similarly, a Finance Consultant, David Ikediegwu, told The Guardian that restoring the Southeast after the Monday sit-at-home would require putting workable policies that would attract people to the region.

Ikediegwu, who emphasised the need for a regional security outfit, believes that it would complement efforts of regular security operatives, stressing that the residents are still not convinced about their protection.

He added that several businesses left the region while the order lasted, explaining that, “for them to come back, they need to see that things are working well again.”

Ikediegwu, who is the Managing Director of Davos Investments, added that schools and institutions of learning should be protected from further disruptions, while the governors should take the extra steps to “identify those who were denied opportunity to participate in national examinations and support them to return to school.”

He also called for collective efforts of individuals, groups and organisations towards the desire to restore the region to its winning ways.