One year after it began, the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is still being observed every Monday in the entire South-eastern region of the country. In this report, EMMA ELEKWA digs deep into the issues and examines the incalculable damage the region has suffered in terms of human and economic losses during the one year of ‘Ghost Mondays’
What the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) every Monday in the entire South-eastern region of the country has continued to take its toll on the socio-economic life of the zone is no longer debatable. Aside the trillions of naira that had been lost, lives and property have been wasted in the ugly situation forced by the restriction on human and vehicular activities.
When the secessionist group came up with the idea one year ago, little did it realise the huge impact it would have on the zone and its populace. This new dimension of agitation for the actualisation of the dream republic, no doubt, is not unconnected to the re-arrest and detention of its leader and arrowhead, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu, who was reportedly brought back from Kenya and detained by the Department of State Security (DSS) in Abuja, was earlier facing trial in an Abuja High Court before he left the country under controversial circumstances following attack on his Afaraukwu, Umuahia, country home in Abia State by some military men.
His first appearance at the court for the renewed trial witnessed a large assemblage of Biafran supporters and security operatives who had a hectic time controlling the crowd. The case was later adjourned and Kanu was remanded in DSS custody. On the adjourned date, the court ground was again filled to capacity by IPOB members and lawyers whose sole intention was to catch a glimpse of Kanu. But that was not to be as their leader was not brought to court. The matter was again adjourned.
Angered by the non-appearance of Kanu in court, members of IPOB, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, declared that every Monday would henceforth be sit-at-home (also known as Ghost Monday) across the entire South-east until Kanu is released from detention. The first Monday sit-at-home was exactly on August 9th, 2021.
Prior to that date, the group’s propaganda machinery was at its peak with steady threats that anyone who dared leave his or her house that day would have himself or herself to blame. That threat left residents of the zone, including security agents, in a state of fear and apprehension as no one knew what would become of them. To ensure total compliance, the group reportedly deployed members of its security outfit, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) who enforced the directive across the length and breadth of the region by coming down on defaulters. Before long, the entire South-east was turned into ghost zone as the order was totally obeyed by all and sundry. Not even government officials dared leave their houses. Commercial activities were totally paralysed with huge losses put at billions of naira lost to the already dwindling economy.
Worse still, records of violence, including killings and burning of assets, were replete every Monday the order was enforced. Among the major victims were candidates of the NECO examination who were to write Mathematics on a Monday. Most of them missed the exam as they could not go to school that day across the region. One of the schools where the exams held is still counting its losses as some of their buildings were razed together with motorcycles belonging to the teachers and invigilators.
Several attempts by some state governors in the region to counter the order, including threat to workers and traders of risk of losing their salaries and shops over failure to report to work and markets any Monday, have met brick walls as the threats were treated with levity. Some of the civil servants were ready to lose their jobs to losing their lives. One of them said, “I decided to remain at home as directed by IPOB because it is somebody who is alive that would receive salary. If I die by insisting to be in my office, will another person not take my position?”
Following the successes recorded in terms of compliance to the first few Monday sit-at-home order, IPOB supporters mocked the Southeast governors that while people of the zone flouted governors’ order, the entire Igbo nation obeyed that of Nnamdi Kanu even while in detention. “We are happy our people are beginning to understand where we are heading to,” said a member of IPOB in Anambra.
As if that was not enough, the same group threatened a one-month total lockdown in the Southeast if the federal government fails to produce its detained leader in court on October 21 to continue his trial. It alleged that the government had perfected plans not to bring Kanu to court, but planned to keep him perpetually behind bars without trial to deaden the Biafra struggle. This particular threat was, however, not implemented following Kanu’s eventual appearance in court.
Months later, the pro-Biafra group, however, decided to suspend the Ghost Mondays following several appeals and interventions by notable Igbo people, including leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo to reconsider its stand on the order in view of its adverse effects on the region. The group, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, announced that the only day the sit-at-home order would be observed in the region remains the day its leader Mazi Kanu would appear in court, which would be made public. He said, “The suspension of the sit-at-home by the IPOB Head of Directorate was as a result of an order from the leader of this great movement, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. In accordance with the directive from our leader, our sit-at-home will, in the meantime, be observed on the date of our leader’s court appearances.
“The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra understands the concern being expressed by the global IPOB family on the suspension of the weekly sit-at-home earlier announced by the IPOB Head of Directorate of State. We know that our people embraced this civil action wholeheartedly and without any compulsion. The leadership sincerely appreciates the innate desire of Biafrans to sacrifice their time, resources and energy in ensuring that our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released unconditionally from the illegal custody of the Nigerian State who criminally brought him from Kenya to Nigeria.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the major fundamental guiding principles of IPOB is command and control. This simply means that all commands from the supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra will be obeyed and implemented to the latter by the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra. Bearing in mind therefore that this principle has enabled this movement to surpass even the expectations of both Biafrans and non-Biafrans alike, the leadership wishes to encourage Biafrans to focus on the most pressing issue confronting this great family presently, which is ensuring the safety of our leader while still in the illegal custody of the DSS and to secure his unconditional release from detention.
“We consider Biafra restoration as a sacrosanct call to duty above all else. Any other information regarding sit-at-home in Biafra land not emanating from IPOB through our main channels of information dissemination should be disregarded. The Nigerian government should heed now to the voice of reason coming from within Nigeria and from outside the shores of Nigeria to unconditionally free our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and announce a date for Biafra referendum or plebiscite where our people will choose where they wish to belong before it is too late.”
But to what extent the suspension order had been adhered to by the people of the region left much to be desired. While a section of IPOB loyalists accused Powerful of betrayal, others said they had gone too far to withdraw. Although the suspension was said to be a “direct order” from Mazi Kanu, a group within IPOB revolted, insisting that the weekly sit-at-home order should remain in force.
A member of IPOB, Mr. Clement Okorie, said the issue of Biafra restoration has gone beyond Kanu’s family and, therefore, should not be seen as a family affair. He said, “We cannot allow the Kanu family to slow down the tempo of the restoration of Biafra, which is at sight. In this struggle, many people have fallen by the wayside, but the agitation has continued to gather momentum. Even if it was our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that suspended the weekly sit-at-home, I am sorry we have to disobey him because Biafra is not for one family.”
Another school of thought alleged division among the pro-Biafran group, while others said the group has been infiltrated and hijacked by some other elements, including the so-called unknown gunmen who continue to dish out counter statements to those of IPOB. Despite the fact that there is no official confirmation to these allegations, many people are tempted to believe them as the entire Southeast had continued to experience total lockdown amidst several official cancellation of the sit- at- home by IPOB.
Meanwhile, the secessionist group warned that anybody or group enforcing the order was an impostor working for the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and other Nigerian security agencies and should be treated as such if apprehended. It directed leaders of communities, markets, churches and other institutions of authority in the area to arrest any hoodlum trying to enforce the order and hand them over to the group.
Although there appears not to be molestation of any sort on motorists who chose to travel to any part of the country through the Southeast, there are palpable fears and apprehension among residents of the region of possible attack if they ventured moving out of their houses. Commercial activities have remained grounded across the zone, even when market leaders had thrown various market gates open for business transactions.
Recently, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, a professor of Economics and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed that his state loses a whopping N19.6 billion to the sit-at-home every Monday. “Every day there is a “sit at home,” the poor masses lose an estimated N19.6 billion in Anambra alone. Due to the protracted breakdown of law and order, businesses are relocating outside Igboland, with growing unemployment, and traders who used to come to shop in Onitsha, Aba etc, going elsewhere. Who is losing? By forcing our children—the future of Igboland—to stay at home instead of being in school, while even the critically sick people (including pregnant women) cannot go to the hospital, we harm our future,” he lamented.
Also speaking, his Ebonyi State counterpart, Governor Dave Umahi, said the South-East region loses so much money each time it observes the sit at home order directed by IPOB. “We are destroying our economy. The sit-at-home is not happening in Southwest, the North is not sitting at home. Each time we sit at home, we lose over N10 billion in our economy,” Umahi had said.
Soludo, during a meeting with some stakeholders, announced cancellation of the sit-at-home. He said, “Following the unanimous agreement of our leaders across board and the entire body of Christ, I am pleased to inform our people that Monday, April 4, 2022, marks the official end to the ‘Monday sit-at-home’ in Anambra State.
The announcement, which raised hopes of people of the state, was immediately dashed as markets, shops, banks, schools and filling stations remained closed for business the following Monday. And the situation has remained so. One of the traders in Onitsha told The Nation that they were simply trying to tread with caution in order not to regret on the long run. He said, “Yes, they’ve asked us to open. But will they be there to secure us? You may open your shop and even succeed in doing your business that day. What if at the end of the day they come and set the market on fire after we’ve all gone? These people are unpredictable.”
How long this sit-at-home order would linger in the Southeast remains a puzzle and a one million dollar question on the lips of both residents and visitors who are directly and indirectly being affected by the quagmire.