FIVE governors of the South-East have vowed to do everything within their powers to end the sit-at-home order of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The declaration was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting with stakeholders in Enugu on Tuesday.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Ebonyi State David Umahi said the sit-at-home orders were mostly issued by people in the diaspora who did not feel the pains they were causing the region.
“The meeting condemned the sit-at-home orders, which are mostly issued by our people in the Diaspora who do not feel the pains,” he said.
“The meeting resolved that Governors and all people of the South-East do everything within the law to ensure that there is no further sit-at-home in the South-East and that people are allowed to freely move about in the Zone.”
While expressing worries about the spate of insecurity in the region, he assured that ‘Ebubeagu,’ the proposed regional security, would be empowered by laws to combat insecurity before the end of 2021.
The IPOB’s sit-at-home and growing insecurity, mostly attributed to ‘unknown gunmen,’ have been worrying concerns for stakeholders in the South-East.
In August, the group had declared a weekly sit-at-home for residents in protest of the arrest and detention of its leader and founder Nnamdi Kanu. The order was, however, suspended after a purported intervention of Kanu, who directed that the exercise only be observed on the days of his appearance in court.
Despite the suspension, the majority of residents still observe the order, shunning business and commercial activities for fear of being attacked by hoodlums who have hijacked the exercise.
Last month, the group threatened to declare a month-long lockdown in the South-East if its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was not produced in his next court appearance slated for October 21, 2021.
Reacting, Ohaeneze Ndigbo, the Igbo socio-cultural group, through its Spokesperson Alex Ogbonnia, in a telephone interview with The ICIR, kicked against the proposed lockdown because it would have adverse economic and social consequences on residents in the region.
He noted that Ohaneze did not believe that Nnamdi Kanu, the founder and leader of IPOB, would want to lock down the whole South-East for a month to inflict economic pains on those he was trying to liberate.
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