Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has insisted that he will no longer allow the infamous Monday sit-at-home directive to continue in all markets in the state.
Mr Soludo announced this on Wednesday during a press conference in Awka.
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The governor’s remarks came in the wake of his closure of the Onitsha Main Market over traders’ compliance with the illegal sit-at-home.
He had ordered the market to be closed for one week when he visited it on Monday and observed that shops were closed in compliance with the sit-at-home order.
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The illegal directive is often enforced by a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Mr Soludo’s action has triggered a protest by angry traders in the state, who on Tuesday backed the Monday sit-at-home directive in honour of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
On Wednesday, the protesters blocked the popular River Niger Bridge, which connects Onitsha in Anambra State to Asaba in Delta State, in Nigeria’s South-south.
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Why I’ll not tolerate sit-at-home in Anambra again
Mr Soludo vowed to resist the sit-at-home directive across markets in the state, saying that those who promote it have an evil agenda to sabotage the state and the South-east’s economy.
“The cost of sit-at-home to Anambra State is enormous. People think about revenue.
“I’m talking about a larger economy. The traders themselves. That each day that you don’t go to market. You don’t know how many businesses you’ve lost,” he said.
“You don’t know how many businesses are moving out of Onitsha to elsewhere.”
The governor argued that it is deceptive that some people engage in social activities in their neighbourhood and street trading on Mondays, but refuse to open their shops in markets on the excuse of insecurity.
“There’s now some deliberateness about what is going on: sabotage, criminal intent to keep Anambra and the South-east behind.
“And we are determined to fight this with everything legal to make sure that we come to an end to this,” he said.
The governor said allowing the Monday sit-at-home directive to continue would give a bad signal to investors that the state and region had accepted a different business calendar.
“We are redefining a new calendar for Anambra and the South-east.
“That you are open for business from Tuesday to Saturday or to Friday as the case may be, while the rest of the world has a different kind of calendar,” he said.
He contended that traders cannot complain of insecurity at the Onitsha Main Market because he has provided adequate security operatives in the market.
“The main market. You have over 150 security persons working there,” he said.
He added that some people also fail to open their shops on Mondays due to “plain laziness”, which they had been forced to accept for years under the sit-at-home directives.
Previous efforts to reverse the sit-at-home
Mr Soludo said that, upon assuming office as governor, he made efforts to resolve the sit-at-home issue by engaging all parties, including visiting the IPOB leader, Mr Kanu.
The governor said he also met with market leaders and appealed to them to shun the illegal directive to save the state and regional economies from collapse, but the issue persisted afterwards.
“You know, when I assumed office, we engaged everybody in the discussion. I personally visited Nnamdi Kanu at the SSS custody when I assumed office.
“We discussed it. He (Kanu) was not happy with the sit-at-home. This is what he told me,” Mr Soludo said.
Continuing, he said: “We came in first. We didn’t want to come with any force or coercion. We had meetings.
“Multiple meetings. With the leadership of various markets. I was in one of them.
“I visited some of the markets. The Onitsha Main Market, particularly. I visited it. I asked them to open the main market.”
Mr Soludo noted that the IPOB, led by Mr Kanu, had distanced itself from the illegal directive, but that a controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, continued to enforce it.
The governor pointed out that the Mr Ekpa-led group often used the fear factor to compel people to obey the illegal directive, adding that his administration had even offered amnesty to the gunmen enforcing the directive to reverse the situation.
He said the illegal directive had been drawing the South-east behind and wondered how its promoters could be serving the region’s interests by preventing petty traders, artisans and schoolchildren from stepping out.
“How will the children, innocent children, grow and be part of the next century if you keep them away from schools?
“Those are the people you say you are fighting for? That’s madness,” he stated.
READ ALSO: Onitsha Market Closure: Soludo to meet with market leaders
‘Schools, banks, others must open too’
Mr Soludo said proprietors and proprietresses of private schools in the state must also stop obeying the sit-at-home directive.
“We’re going to open the schools. And we’re going to take the same measures.
“If you are running a private school. If you are not open, I’ll come and slam it, lock it up. We’ve given you permission to operate there as a school,” he said, insisting that proprietors must get permission before shutting their schools.
The governor hinted that he would hold a meeting with banks and petrol station owners to urge them to shun the Monday sit-at-home directive in the state.
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