Sit-At-Home enters 9th edition in Enugu

 

 

 

by Cosmas CHUKWU.

 

 

The Sit-At-Home order declared by the pro Biafra IPOB to protest the detention and press for the release of their detained leader,Nazi Nnamdi Kanu has entered the 9th edition this Monday having begun on Monday August 9,2021.

 

Today as indeed the previous Mondays, the streets and major urban roads are bare and bereft normal vehicular movement.

The Enugu Portharcourt Expressway is also virtually empty with the usual articulated petroleum tanker trucks and the fleet of Dangote and other trucks nowhere in sight.

 

Public and private motorparks as well as city taxi bays are shut to the public as well as auto mechanic  garages  and workshops are closed for business.                  Markets are under lock and key though shops in the inner streets are trading cautiously but the major supermarkets, hotels and restaurants have their doors shut.             Offices are not open even as schools are supposed to open officially.                          Banks are not open to the public with security staff keeping an avid eyes on callers though the ATMs are functioning while POS operators are cashing in.

 

So far there has been no security breaches or occasions of enforcement of the  exercise, however, a security convoy comprising Police, Civil Defence, SSS, Air force and Army in patrol vans was observed coursing through Agbani road towards Zik Avenue into the city centre.

 

Meanwhile the recent order by the proBiafra IPOB through its Directorate of State calling for the pulling down of Nigerian flag in Igboland seems to have had a significant degree of compliance.     IPOB had allegedly called for the pulling down of the flag to  press home its demand for independence from Nigeria and also in solidarity with the Anglophone Cameroon people seeking exit from the larger Republique du Cameroon which is largely French speaking.

 

The defunct West Cameroon used to form part of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria until they elected for union with the larger French speaking side.

 

The West Cameroon used to celebrate its independence on October 1 just as Nigeria.              The anglophone separatist are holding tenacious my to that date and would be observing it this year.      IPOB reportedly has a relationship and would want to scorn the celebration in Nigeria by ensuring that Nigerian flags are not hoisted anywhere in the proposed Biafra land.

In Enugu,most schools are supposed to be reopening officially today,,

 

though the sit-at-home may imperil that ,however,in about eleven secondary schools  and six primary schools,no flags were fluttering.                          Four topflight hotels visited on Agbani road and One Day road,no flags were noticed while five popular eateries in the same precincts had no flags on.The owner of one such eatry,Azuka intimated me that he used to fly the flag until the infamous Lekki Massacre which he said he witnessed firsthand when soldiers fired at protesters wielding Nigerian flag.”I don’t fly it anymore”he said pointing at the abandoned flagpost.         Also a big supermarket visited did not have any flags flying just as was the case in eight churches visited,including three Catholic churches,a methodist church,a winners Church,a Redeemed  Church,two Anglican churches and a Baptist Church, along with the Mosque at Uwani area.                      At two Access banks,one UBA,one Fidelity bank,one Ecobank and one First bank,only Fidelity and First bank had Nigerian flag hoisted,while the rest had empty flagpost to show compliance.

 

Meanwhile a vehicle conveying vegetables, tomatoes and other perishable foodstuff was on Monday morning set ablaze by yet to be identified hoodlums in Enugu while the Monday Sit-At-Home was ongoing.

 

No person has been arrested in connection to the incident but the attackers witnesses said might be enforcing the  prevailing  sit-at-home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB to demand the release of their leader,Nazi Nnamdi Kanu fromm SSS custody.

 

The incident, happened at Edem Junction, Ibeagwa, Nike in Enugu East Local Government Area of the state.

 

No lives were lost in the incident.

The vehicle  ladden with perishable foodstuff, was said to be coming from the the northern states through  Ugwogo end of the Opi-Enugu byepass when it was blocked and set  ablaze by yet to be identified persons.

 

Eye witnesses recall that   distress calls were sent  to the State Fire Service prompting a quick response by the Ogui Road fire service station to the scene.

 

The PPRO  Enugu Police Command, ASP Daniel Ndukwe,while not confirming the incident, however, promised to get back to our correspondent when he was contacted for comments.

However,military helicopters have been hovering in the area in hope tracking the arsonists and to further beef up security.