Enugu residents ignore IPOB sit-at-home order

Residents of Enugu State on Thursday went about their normal activities and disregarded the sit-at-home order given by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.

The outlawed group had on May 28 in a statement directed the residents to observe a sit-at-home order in memory of those who lost their lives in the Nigeria-Biafra war from 1967 to 1970.

A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent, who monitored the situation in Enugu metropolis, observed that there was no sign of compliance as the roads were busy with vehicular traffic and many people were going about their activities.

At Agbani Road axis, there was heavy traffic as many people including school children and workers were boarding commercial buses to their different destinations.

Public and private schools in the metropolis were opened for normal academic activities for the day.

Kenyatta, Garki and Akwata markets in the metropolis, as well as banks, were opened for business, while traders were busy displaying their goods as usual.

A businessman, Mr Francis Ugochukwu, said that everyone had to struggle on a daily basis for his or her livelihood, saying that IPOB would not provide food for anyone.

“It is high time we all learnt our lesson. IPOB had deceived us a lot with its seat-at-home order and at the end of the whole thing, nothing happens, enough is enough,” Ugochukwu said.

He said that previous sit-at-home orders by IPOB had never favoured anyone; rather people counted losses in their businesses for staying at home.

He noted that he would be the last person to observe such an order again, describing the IPOB members as jobless people.

Mrs Mary Uzondu, a civil servant, said that IPOB did not employ her and had no right to stop her from going to work.

Uzondu said that there was no sign of the order in her neighborhood as everyone was going about his or her duty.

Miss Ifunanya Chukwu, a student, said she was not ready to obey an illegal order, saying that IPOB could not distort her academic activities for the day.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Sept. 21, 2017, gave judicial backing to the Executive Order of President Muhammadu Buhari, outlawing the IPOB and declared its activities as acts of terrorism and illegality.