Enugu Govt Threatens To Shut Schools, Markets Over Sit-At-Home

The Enugu government has threatened to shut down schools and markets that ob­serve the illegal one week sit-at-home order.

It would be recalled that there was rumour of a one week sit-at-home in the South-East from July 3 to July 10, pur­portedly declared by Simon Ekpa’s faction of the Indige­nous People of Biafra (IPOB).

IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, has refuted such claim, urging South-East resi­dents to ignore the sit-at-home order.

Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, Secretary to the State Govern­ment, in a statement made available to journalists in Enu­gu on Tuesday, said, “Our atten­tion has been drawn to reports on social media this Tuesday morning that proprietors of private schools in the state are sending messages to their pu­pils and students to the effect that they should not come to school from today on account of the illegal one week sit-at-home order allegedly declared by faceless non-state actors in the state.

“The Enugu State govern­ment is alarmed and dismayed by this development and here­by warns that any school that fails to open and function nor­mally from today will have its license revoked immediately.

“The Enugu State govern­ment also extends the same warning to market unions and shop owners in the state. All markets and shops in the various markets must be open to customers from today or be shut down indefinitely.

IPOB Enugu

“The government reiterates its ban on any form of illegal sit-at-home in all parts of the state, as it is evil and antitheti­cal to all values we hold dear as a people, such as the Igbo spirit of industry, hard work, creativ­ity and productivity.”

He, thereby, urged the gener­al public to go about their nor­mal daily activities as adequate security measures have been put in place to protect lives and property.

He said, “Government will no longer sit by and watch faceless groups and misguid­ed individuals issue illegal orders, dictating to us how to lead our lives, when to go to work or market and when our children go to school, while they ply their trade and their children go to school. This is no longer acceptable and must be confronted and defeated with every power and resources at our disposal”.

The state government also warned that it will deploy the full instrumentality of the law such as the Cybercrime Act 2015 to go after and prosecute anybody, individuals, groups and organizations intention­ally encouraging the illegal sit-at-home order, instilling fear on residents, raising false alarm to disturb public peace, etc, through fake news sharing and propagation of falsehood connected with the illegal sit-at-home order on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.

It said, this, however, is by no means, depriving citizens freedom of speech and infor­mation as enshrined in the constitution.

Ndiigboworwide  reports that some schools and offices were under lock and key due to the illegal sit-at-home order.

Mrs. Joy Ugwu, whose two children attend one of the pri­vate schools at Independence Layout, Enugu, expressed dis­appointment that the kids were sent back home.

She said, “I was surprised when my husband brought back my kids home this morn­ing, saying the school man­agement asked students to go back home because of the sit-at-home.

“I wonder why we should allow such to continue when Governor Peter Mbah had can­celed sit-at-home in the state. In fact, we are our own problem and drastic action should be taken on this ugly situation”.

Anambra Govt, IPOB Denounce Sit-At-Home

Similarly, the Anambra State government and the IPOB led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu have discountenanced and disassociated themselves from the one week sit-at-home declared by one Simon Ekpa.

A statement signed by the Commissioner of Information, Mr. Paul Nwosu, described the order which was aired on so­cial media as provocative and called on the people of the state to discard it.

The statement also called on “the people of Anambra State and indeed the entire South- East to go about their normal duties without paying any heed at all to the antics of the nefar­ious Mazi Simon Ekpa and his cohorts”.

It said the state government does not recognise groups called ‘Biafra Republic Gov­ernment In-Exile (BRGIE) and Biafra De Facto Govern­ment-In-Homeland’, saying it amounted to efforts in futility.

The government called on market leaders, workers and “the entire populace to discounte­nance the unenforceable dictates of these unserious groups led by the evil-minded Mazi Simon Ekpa who we understand is hi­bernating in faraway Finland”.

It assured the people of pro­tection by security agencies.

On its part, the IPOB in a separate statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secre­tary, Emma Powerful, dissoci­ated itself from the sit-at-home order, describing it as “irre­sponsible order from govern­ment paid agents whose agen­da is to ridicule the struggle to restore Biafra sovereignty”.

Source: Independent.ng