The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said the sit-at-home observed in parts of Onitsha on February 2 was a one-off action and not a return to the weekly Monday lockdown earlier enforced in the South-East.
The group said the action followed last week’s confrontation between Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, and traders in Onitsha over the continued observance of sit-at-home on Mondays.
Speaking in an interview with Saturday Vanguard, IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, explained that the February 2 shutdown was a reaction to what he described as the governor’s increasingly dictatorial posture, stressing that IPOB had long cancelled the weekly Monday sit-at-home.
Powerful recalled that the Monday lockdown was first introduced on August 9, 2021, to demand the release of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who was then in the custody of the Department of State Services. He said the directive was later cancelled on Kanu’s instruction due to its negative impact on the economy of the South-East.
According to him, IPOB publicly announced the cancellation and repeatedly disassociated itself from criminal elements who enforced sit-at-home through violence and intimidation.
“It is only haters of IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that will continue to associate IPOB with the illegal Monday sit-at-home after it was cancelled,” Powerful said.
He added that while IPOB had declared sit-at-home on some court days in solidarity with Kanu, the February 2 action was not a policy shift but a temporary response to threats allegedly made against traders by the state government.
“No one takes joy in sit-at-home actions, especially IPOB, whose members are mostly traders and artisans who depend on daily economic activity to survive,” he said.
Powerful also accused Governor Soludo of failing to address insecurity in the region and questioned the timing of the government’s renewed push against sit-at-home, noting that the issue existed long before the current confrontation.
He further alleged that the South-East Governors’ Forum was opposed to Kanu’s release, describing such a stance as unjustified, and insisted that IPOB remained opposed to the weekly Monday sit-at-home.
“From this weekend onward, it will be made clear that sit-at-home will not be enforced,” he said, adding that IPOB does not support the harassment or coercion of traders for opening their businesses.
Powerful said dialogue, justice, and respect for the rule of law remained the solution to the crisis, rather than intimidation or collective punishment.
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer, Dr. Jezie Ekejiuba, also called for dialogue, stating that traders stay away from markets on Mondays largely because of insecurity.
According to him, forcing traders to open their shops without addressing the absence of buyers, transport services, banks, schools, and other institutions on Mondays amounts to discrimination against private traders.
He urged the government to adopt a comprehensive and inclusive approach to resolving the sit-at-home issue rather than targeting traders alone.
