Enugu Residents Shun Ekpa’s Sit-at-Home Order, Open for Business

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

Residents of Enugu State, yesterday, shunned the order to sit at home for two weeks issued by the Finland-based self-acclaimed Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa.

In a series of Tweets, Ekpa said the sit-at-home, which would last between July 31 and August 14, was intended to further demand the release of detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

IPOB had distanced itself from the calls for a sit-at-home at several times. Kanu had also reportedly written to Ekpa, directing him to end all sit-at-home orders in the South-east via a letter made public on Friday by his Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor.

In the letter, Kanu warned that anyone enforcing sit-at-home in the southeast was not his disciple and should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

However, while he claimed that the sit-at-home had been 100% successful with videos of some empty streets, checks by THISDAY showed that business owners went about their activities across various locations in Enugu, yesterday, including the states main market, Ogbete. It was the same story on Tuesday.

To ensure the security of residents, security operatives, including the army, were stationed across markets and other strategic locations. The streets were busy with commercial bus.

Some business owners, who spoke to THISDAY said the sit-at-home has not yielded any results. Rather, it has impacted negatively on the economy of the region, hence the time to reject it.