Sit-at-Home: Imperatives of Enugu’s Pushback
Ejeh Josh
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) issued the sit-at-home order in the South East region on August 9, 2021 to protest the extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021 and continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The group had while dishing the draconian order, said that every Monday, which is arguably the most important and fundamental business and transaction day of the week, would be set aside as no-work-day or what it called, sit-at-home until the release of Mazi Kanu by the Federal Government.
But it is no longer news that the sit-at-home order backfired, leaving in its trail some massive unintended consequences on the socio-economic, and even political development, of the South East region. It became a huge blow on the region and a sad case of ingesting poison out of anger and resentment and expecting your enemies to die, as people were not allowed to willingly comply. Instead, it was violently enforced.
Innocent people have been brutally murdered in the name of sit-at-home enforcement. Public facilities and private property, and life under the prevailing atmosphere could be rightly described in the words of the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, as sliding into the state of nature with its brutality, nastiness and shortness. That’s the Leviathan’s threatre of horror that some misguided hoodlums are bent at turning our once most peaceful region in Nigeria.
It is already about the 93rd sit-at-home Mondays, approximately over 22 months since August 9, 2021. Nothing positive has come out of it other than unimaginable wanton slosh of blood, maiming, destruction of the economy, exodus of businesses from the zone, occasioned hardships, and near collapse of public confidence and trust. Southeast economy is gradually grounding to the state of comatose. People are groaning in agony. Education, the most important institution of nation-building and human capital advancement, was becoming a “Haram” and the human institution is violently defied by blood tasty monsters.
The sit-at-home monster, to the Igbo man on the street, has become a torn on his flesh. It’s a crown of tears, blood and sorrow inflicted on him by those supposedly parading as messiah. Things are no longer at ease. Their sources of livelihood have suffered devastating blow. The Igbo man lives in fear from all sides and corners of his abodes.
But to be fair to IPOB, the group ultimately cancelled whatever remained of the sit-at-home order after taking stock of the grievous consequences of the poorly thought through order. Mazi Kanu, despite being in the gulag of the Department of State Security (DSS), warned against any enforcement of the order, even stressing that enforcers of such dastardly directive be treated as criminal elements and infiltrators sabotaging the people of the East.
Unfortunately, the horse had already left the stable, for despite IPOB’s repeated denouncements, merchants of chaos, terror, anarchy, and indeed, obviously, the sworn home-bred enemies of Igbo land and Kanu himself, have continued to promote and enforce the calamitous sit-at-home order. And they have left in their trails nothing but blood and sorrow.
Nobody would doubt the ruthless consequences of the continuous sit-at-home on our psyche, reputation, and economy of the South East. According to a report from the International Centre for Investigative Report (ICIR), over $12.215 billion or N5.375 trillion has been lost to sit-at-home since September 2021. This chilling figure was further corroborated by a study conducted by SBM Intelligence for DevEast Foundation Ltd/Gte, putting the ongoing loss in the South East at about 30% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the zone’s economy.
Transportation, one of the indispensable livewires of the economy in the region is losing over N10 billion for each sit-at-home day. The Igbo people are known for trading as their primary occupation. In that sub-sector, the South East loses between N900 billion to N4 trillion. This means that every loss to the South East economy is a gain to the economy of other zones.
Enugu itself has been bleeding profusely. According to the new sheriff in town, Governor Peter Mbah, Enugu loses well over N10 billion every Monday. Also, take the creative and entertainment industry where Enugu used to be the home of Nollywood, with an influx of tourists and students from other parts of Nigeria craving to study there because of its adoring fauna and beautiful topographies. Entertainment industry was indeed a big business in Enugu. The relaxation, hospitality, leisure and pleasure from the state led to it being tagged, “042”. Today, the sit-at-home syndrome has forced the entertainment industry, including Nollywood out of the state, and guess who is benefitting greatly from the exodus? Asaba and the rest, of course.
To ensure that this self-affliction is brought to an end, Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, after taking a critical assessment of the impact of the notorious sit-at-home on the lives, education, economy, infrastructure, etcetera of the people, had to take the bold step, which many have continued to commend as a relief to the Igbo nation in general and Enugu State in particular.
No reasonable person and lover of Igbo land can fault this massive willpower to end a primitive syndrome that has set our people almost a century backwards. More so when the motives of the paid saboteurs enforcing the mindless sit-at-home order are clearly antithetical to the wellbeing, peace, and prosperity of Enugu State and the South East region. And I dare add, when their bloody Monday crusades are deliberately engineered to give the Federal Government reasons to continue to detain Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Instructively, the Church as represented by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Enugu; the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka, Most Revd. Geoffrey Igwebuike Onah and the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most. Revd. Emmanuel Chukwuma; the pro-Biafra agitators as represented by IPOB and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB); Igbo youths as represented by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide; the traders as represented by the Enugu State Amalgamated Traders Association in addition to the Nigerian Bar Association, Financial Institutions in Enugu State, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, National Union of Road Transport Workers, the media community, Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Union of Teachers, National Youth Council of Nigeria, Association of Presidents-General of Enugu State Town Unions, Tricycle Riders Association, Inter-Party Advisory Council, National Association of Nigerian Students, among other representatives of the people have endorsed the government’s decision to end the sit-at-home.
In endorsing the new administration’s move, MASSOB, while stating that “the idea of enforcing sit-at-home on Mondays had since been jettisoned by all genuine agitators”, stressed that “the quest for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the actualisation of Biafra, both of which are our collective struggles, are synonymous with the creation of the state of fear, insecurity, and waste of lives and property, all of which are unhealthy to peace, entrepreneurship, productivity, investment, and development of our homeland”.
IPOB, on its part, while supporting Enugu State government’s ban on Monday sit-at-home, said it was disparaged by the fact that whereas IPOB and its leader, Kanu, had since ordered an end to the menace, “some criminals and infiltrators hijacked it and started committing crimes and enforcing non-existent Monday sit-at-home”.
Instructively, Mbah, in striving to end the sit-at-home, is neither oblivious of the real cause of the restiveness nor averse to the sentiments of the people and collective quest of Ndigbo for Mazi’s release, he equally backed the search for peace and order in the South East with a mission to Aso Villa where, among others, he pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to initiative processes towards the release of Kanu to engender national healing and peace. Also, rather than a belligerent and combative vantage, the governor has toed the part of suasion and engagements of all sections of stakeholders, including partnership with the security apparatuses. Importantly, he has consistently emphasised the readiness of the government to dialogue with groups with genuine grievances.
But it must be stressed, as Mbah rightly pointed out, that the ending Monday sit-at-home is not about the governor, but to the benefit of Enugu people as a state. For instance, he said: “We have proposed to grow our GDP from the current level of $4.4 billion to $30 billion. That growth is going to come from the private sector. And the private sector will not come to Enugu to reside their business if they know that we do not have five workdays, which is obtainable elsewhere”. He could not be more apt.
It’s therefore time for the people of Enugu State to collectively rise to their feet and take back their state from enforcers of sit-at-home. Good enough, Mbah is leading by example and from the front. Not only is he going from market to market and from one government office to the other on Mondays to inspire confidence and motivate the people back to productive ways, he is escalating and putting security on the red alert in the state. Security presence at the borders and around the state is obvious, even as security aircrafts hover the state to ensure security. Pinnacle Oil and Gas, which is his company, dispenses fuel on Mondays. Banks, markets, businesses, offices, artisans, etc. are also taking a clue. This is the way to go and the gates of sit-at-home should never be allowed to prevail over the peace, order, prosperity, and development of Enugu State.
Let us, en masse, say “No” to a senseless and ruinous Monday sit-at-home. We should never continue to take poison in the hope of punishing those who hate Igbo. We will only be playing their game to our own detriment.
Ejeh is an Enugu-based legal practitioner
