•Army vows to crush criminals in region
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Sit-at-home order is the greatest challenge currently facing the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The menace is at the heart of the general insecurity rocking the region.
The damage caused by the reckless order and its enforcement, especially by the Auto-Pilot version of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been incalculable in terms of numerous lives wasted, huge economic destruction and social dislocation.
The mainstream IPOB called for the first sit-at-home on September 9, 2021, to protest the continued incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian Government, after he was intercepted in Kenya.
Unconfirmed report said that “about 176 camps and buildings” harbouring gunmen across the five states of the South-East have been discovered by the security agencies.
The new Chief of Army Staff, Major Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja has ordered soldiers to storm those camps and flush out the hoodlums.
Lagbaja’s declaration of war on perpetrators of insecurity in the South-East came on the heels of the pronouncement by leader of the IPOB’s Auto-Pilot group, Simon Ekpa that there would be sit-at-home for 14 days in the zone from July 31.
Ekpa’s latest declaration of stay at home came barely 24 hours after the end of the seven-day lockdown he ordered, which led to killings and destruction of property worth billions of Naira, across the zone.
In a statement, Ekpa said the two-week action, which will commence from July 31 through August 14, 2023, was a consequence of the ‘earnest demand’ by ‘Southeasterners’ for a frequent lockdown in the zone.
According to him, it was to draw the authorities’ attention to the illegal detention of IPOB leader, Kanu and his eventual unconditional release, among others. He also said that it was “in preparation for Biafra’s self referendum;
“To further put the world on notice that Biafrans are taking their future into their own hands; To demonstrate that the Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BGIE) remains the only legitimate government to whom the Biafran people listen and are loyal to; To invalidate the illegitimacy of those who parade themselves as Nigeria’s representatives within Biafran territory.”
Saturday Sun reliably gathered that the recent declaration by Ekpa really jolted the governors of South-East states, Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership and other leaders of the zone.
At a meeting of South East political leaders comprising the governors, National Assembly members and speakers of the states’ Houses of Assembly, with the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other stakeholders of the region in Abuja on Monday, July 10, they resolved to meet President Bola Tinubu over the insecurity in their zone.
A participant in the meeting, which was hosted at Imo Lodge by Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, said that tackling the sit-at-home menace, topped discussion there.
It was noted that security is in the Exclusive Legislative List in the Nigerian Constitution; and that the powers to deploy the military and the Police to strategic places in the country reside in the Presidency.
The source said that the Igbo leaders “resolved that a high-powered Igbo delegation will meet the Presidency to discuss on the immediate and remote causes as well as the viable solutions to the insecurity in the South East.”
Some of those present at the meeting were Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru; Senators David Umahi, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adolphus Nwabara, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh, Osita Ngwu, Ifeanyi Ubah, Okey Ezea, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, and Chris Ngige.
Others were Prince Arthur Eze, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, and Prof. Paul Nnamchi, to mention but a few.
Addressing the meeting, Uzodimma said that all Igbo leaders and stakeholders were united on tackling insecurity in the region.
He stated that while security was an exclusive responsibility of the Federal Government with the collaboration of the governors, plans were underway for the South-East leaders to collectively table the matter before the president whom he believes will give the necessary support.
President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu reiterated his call for South-East security summit to be organised in collaboration with stakeholders of the zone. He gave his assurance that the problem of insecurity in the region would soon be a thing of the past.
Elsewhere, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, bemoaned that about N4 trillion has been lost to the weekly stay-at-home imposed on the South-East in the last two years.
In a keynote address at the “All Markets Conference 2023” with the theme: “Catalysing partnership with traders through innovation, technology, analytics & sustainability,” on Friday July 14, in Lagos, he said the sit-at-home imposed on the region has stifled economic growth.
Kalu noted that violence was alien to the region, and consequently, called for collective efforts by all Igbo sons and daughters to end the menace.
“We have to rise up to nip the problem in the bud. The first wave of the migration of Igbo businesses post-civil war was in the late 1980s and the 1990s, when, due to incessant kidnappings, thievery and a rise in occultism, Igbo businesses domiciled in Igboland moved en masse to other parts of Nigeria and the West and Central African regions to thrive. We are currently witnessing the second wave of such migration of Igbo businesses. This time around, it is due to the insecurity and the sit-at-home problem in our beloved region. Ummu nnem, this is not us.
“We are not known for these. If I do not tell you these truths as your son, then it will be difficult for anyone in governance from Ala-Igbo to tell you. I am pained by what our dear land has become,” the deputy speaker said.
He stated that the frequent sit-at-home calls were also affecting the businesses of other people across Nigeria especially in the supply-chain, opining that “we must find lasting solutions to the security challenges in Igboland, addressing them collectively with innovative strategies.”
In Enugu, Governor Peter Mbah has declared sit-at-home illegal, vowing to stop at nothing in providing security to residents of the state to go about their normal businesses on Mondays.
Since banning the sit-at-home order in June, the governor has continued to lead by example as he tried to instil confidence in the Enugu residents by beefing up security presence in strategic locations across the Enugu State.
The governor has visited various markets, residential areas within the state capital where he monitored compliance on the ban.
Such on July 17, to the governor Spar Mall, Roban Stores at Bisalla Road, Market Square, Shoprite, Zenith Bank at Ogui Road, Celebrities, Ogbete Market, Garki Awkunanaw Market, Mayor Market, Abakpa Market, and the State Secretariat, where he commended the level of compliance in most of the places.
He, however, warned that traders, who continue to sit at home from Monday, July 24, would lose their shops to serious-minded businessmen.
Mbah assured them that adequate security had been provided, noting that there had not been any incident of attack since the ban on sit-at-home in June.
He said: “It should never be heard that we were cowed because of the threat of violence by these criminals”, noting that “the poverty that will befall us for sitting at home will kill us even faster.
“We are losing over N10bn every Monday that we sit at home. Enough is enough. This foolishness must end and it must end now. We cannot be marginalising ourselves and still complain of marginalisation.
“So, we must say no to sit-at-home because what it means is that we are destroying our employment, our economy, and our GDP. We must erase it from our memories. We should see it as our shameful past, which we do not want to remember. We must put it behind us and forge ahead, ensuring that we work every working day of the week.”
In a bid to restore confidence and safeguard life and property of residents of Imo State, the state police command, has deployed its men into the rural areas to also thwart the two-week sit-at-home order imposed by Simon Ekpa.
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde recently declared ‘Operation Show of Force in the state.”
In Ebonyi, Governor Nwifuru on assumption of office quickly appointed about 20 security aides to take charge of the 13 local government areas and the state capital.
The special security arrangements in the state recently paid off with the arrest of over 20 enforcers of sit-at-home order while some others were decimated.
Ahead of the ‘Operation Sweep’ order by the Chief of Army Staff, some people have called on the military authorities to consider applying a “non-kinetic solution.”
A Senior advocate of Nigeria, Ikeazor Akaraiwe urged the military to try deploying intelligence or investigation.
Akaraiwe advised: “The DSS and DMI should be able to have telephone eavesdroppers to locate conspirators and terrorists disrupting the South East. Truth be told, the growing terrorism in the South-East must be nipped in the bud, but the solution in my respectful view, may not be more boots on ground but enhanced intelligence gathering, which the military by orientation may not be equipped to do.
“For example, how do the sit-at-home enforcers communicate? By telepathy, by runners or by telephone?”
For President General of Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), Goodluck Ibem, the statement credited to Vice President Kashim Shettima that the military cannot solve the insecurity problems in the North East except by applying a “non-kinetic solution,” was impeachable.
Ibem who urged that similar token be extended to calm the security situation in the South-East also declared that unconditional release of the IPOB leader, was key to peace in the region.
“Shettima’s statement has provided the leeway to what should be done to stop the sit-at-home and insecurity ravaging the South East,” the youth leader said.
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