IPOB Sit-at-Home: Tension as Traders, Soludo Clash Over Monday Reopening
Tension has gripped Anambra State as traders and market leaders face a difficult choice ahead of Monday’s planned reopening of the Onitsha Main Market, following threats by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) to enforce a sit-at-home order.
The pro-Biafran group, in a statement issued last Friday by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, directed traders, transporters, banks, schools, civil servants and residents across the Southeast to observe what it described as a peaceful solidarity sit-at-home.
IPOB said the directive was a response to Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s decision to shut the Onitsha Main Market for one week over continued Monday sit-at-home compliance.
IPOB Condemns Market Closure
Powerful described the market shutdown as an attempt to suppress civil disobedience over the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group.
According to IPOB, the action was “designed to break the spirit of peaceful resistance against injustice,” insisting that the sit-at-home was symbolic and non-violent.
Soludo Vows to Keep Markets Open
However, the Anambra State Government has vowed to defy the IPOB directive.
The Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, said the sit-at-home enforcement had degenerated from a political protest into a criminal enterprise.
Quoting Soludo during a meeting with market leaders in Awka on Friday, Mefor stated that all markets and shops across the state must open on every working day, warning that “extreme measures” would be taken against defaulters.
He alleged that non-indigenes and criminal elements were behind the enforcement of the sit-at-home order.
Attendance Registers, Security Deployment
According to the government, the Chairman of Onitsha Main Market, Mr Chijioke Okpalugo, assured the governor that traders would resume business on Monday.
Market leaders reportedly demanded visible security presence to protect traders and customers.
Audio recordings obtained by Sunday PUNCH revealed that attendance registers would be introduced across all market lines, with traders who fail to open their shops risking revocation of shop ownership.
In the clips, a market leader disclosed that security operatives would be deployed to strategic locations and that non-compliance would attract severe sanctions.
“He said anyone who fails to open their shop risks losing ownership and would be told how much to pay to regain it,” the official said.
The governor was also said to have announced plans to demolish and reconstruct the market within three years, in line with the original master plan.
Government Threatens Shop Revocation
Mefor confirmed that traders who continued to observe the IPOB sit-at-home would be identified and punished.
“If you don’t open your shop, you are a saboteur. It is economic sabotage,” he said, adding that shops belonging to defiant traders would be revoked and owners compensated.
He insisted that Onitsha was not insecure and accused some traders, whom he claimed were IPOB members, of forcing others to comply.
According to him, the market would be under full security lockdown, with the army, police, civil defence and the state’s Agunechemba security outfit deployed.
Ethnic Leaders Urge Caution
Reacting, the President of the Ala-Igbo Development Foundation, Prof Awuzie Unachukwu, warned that sanctioning traders could worsen insecurity and economic hardship.
He said residents were staying indoors out of fear, not political sympathy, stressing that human life was more important than daily revenue.
“What people need is reassurance. Visible security presence would have helped,” he said.
Calls to End Sit-at-Home
The immediate past National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Alex Ogbonnia, also called for an end to the sit-at-home order, noting that it had severely damaged the region’s economy.
He said Igbo leaders were united in supporting Soludo’s stance but urged the Federal Government to adopt a political approach in resolving the Kanu issue.
Police Assure Security
Meanwhile, the Imo State Police Command said it had deployed adequate security to prevent any breakdown of law and order following IPOB’s sit-at-home threat.
Its spokesperson, Henry Okoye, urged residents to ignore the directive and go about their lawful businesses.
