By Uche Amunike
The Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano, has said that the Sit-at-home order given by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, will no longer hold water in Anambra state henceforth, vowing to seal banks and sanction market and motor park leaders who will dare to sit at home and such days.
Obiano, who decried the rate at which the compliance by the state has badly affected the Gross Domestic Product and general economy in the state reiterated that any bank that failed to carry out operations on such days would face the consequences of being sealed for one week, adding that if such banks refused to work subsequently, they will also face the consequence of being permanently closed.
During his meeting at the Governor’s Lodge with the transport leadership in the state, Obiano stressed that the continuous adherence of indigenes in the state, of the sit-home order has cost the state so much, economically.
He urged bus commuters to feel free to ply their usual routes across the state on Monday, regardless of their mode of transportation, be it motorcycles, tricycles, shuttle buses, taxis, etc.
He threatened that the leadership of the major markets in the state will be sacked, if they failed to open markets on Monday and further stated that the leadership of the various motor parks will face the same fate and be changed within a space of two weeks, if they refuse to obey the directive given by his administration.
Still on the sit at home order given by IPOB and high rate of compliance by indigenes of Anambra state, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani said on Sunday, that the sit-at-home protests in the South-East geo-political zone posed very serious implications and social economic consequences on the lives of the indigenes of the South East and therefore made a call for its cessation.
The former Enugu state governor, who currently represents Enugu state Senatorial District in the Senate, made this known in a statement he signed and titled, ‘Sit-at-Home against Igbo Interest’.
He ruled against the attacks on citizens minding their business and carrying out their legitimate sources of living in the name of sit-at-home and added that the crux of the Igbo identity is defined by the capacity of the typical Igbo man to be hard-working, wise and widely-traveled.
He further said that the sit-at-home goes against the principles of the typical traits of the Igbo man and also betrays his interest.
He completely condemned the IPOB order and described it as something that can never move the state and country forward, because enslaving people by denying them their means of livelihood can never add to their quest for equity and justice. He added that the sit-at-home order painted the picture of innocent people rejecting themselves just because they found themselves being rejected and advised that indigenes in the south-east geo-political zone should not abandon themselves no matter what.
He called on all people of goodwill to prevail on the protagonists of the sit-at-home in order to bring things back to the way it used to be in the Southeast political zone.
