•Work days reduced to four, sometimes three days

Today, August 20, 2022 makes it exactly one year and eleven days since the Indegenous People of Biafra, IPOB, imposed the sit at home on the entire South East geopolitical zone to protest the arrest and detention of it leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian government.

Kanu is standing trial before the Federal High Court, Abuja, for alleged treasonable felony.

At its inception, the leadership of IPOB made it clear that the weekly sit at home would continue until Kanu was released from detention. Later, the organization declared that the sit at home would also include days Mazi Kanu would appear in court.

In the region, therefore, markets, schools, transportation, banks and government offices are forced to be under lock on Mondays. Also, if there is a public holiday, the number of days for transacting business is further reduced in the region.

Initially, many people thought the sit at home would just last for few weeks, not knowing that it would turn out to become a norm. As if that was not enough, IPOB began enforcement of the order and those found outside their homes on Mondays had unpleasant stories to tell.


The resultant effect was arresting people and sometimes killing the defaulters. Indeed, the enforcement brought fears in the region, thereby forcing people to comply. Since then, the South East has become a ghost region on Mondays and the days Kanu would appear in court, with all commercial activities shut down.

Perhaps IPOB thought that the introduction of the order would put pressure on the federal government to release Kanu unconditionally as soon as possible, but this was not to be. Kanu has stayed in detention for over one year.


It was indeed in an effort to enforce the sit at home that unknown gunmen surfaced in the region and in addition to killing people, the gunmen have contributed in no small measure in destroying the economy of South East.

As it stands in the region, work days have been reduced from five days a week to four days and sometimes three days if Kanu was to appear in court. What this amounts to is that the South East unofficially now operates the four market days in Igbo land, instead of the normal five days working week, no thanks to the sit at home.

Although IPOB said it has officially suspended the sit at home following complaints by the people, some overzealous youths have continued to threaten those who dare to step out of their houses on Mondays. They are criminals and no longer Biafra agitators.

Enforcers of the sit at home have been attacking traders who attempted to open shops in any part of the region . They had killed many people, burnt vehicles seen on the roads and set ablaze goods worth millions of naira on Mondays.

At a stage, they started using the social media to threaten people by warning them to be prepared to receive whatever treatment they might meet if they came out on Mondays. Even when the IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful announced that people should go about their normal businesses everyday of the week, a splinter group in the organization has continued to give a counter order.

The sit at home is so effective that even security operatives desert their checkpoints on Mondays for fear of being attacked.

Recently, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, a professor of Economics and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said his state, Anambra, loses 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,” Soludo lamented.

On April 4, 2022, Governor Soludo held a meeting with the stakeholders during which it was announced that sit at home had been cancelled. After the meeting, the governor 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.

Although the governor’s announcement raised the people’s hope, such hope was dashed as markets, shops, banks, schools and filling stations remained closed for business the following Monday. And the situation has remained so.

Also speaking in the vein sometime ago, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State 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 South West, the north is not sitting at home. Each time we sit at home, we lose over N10 billion in our economy,” Umahi had said.

Some businessmen have also been lamenting the effect of the sit at home. “Monday sit-at-home has destroyed our businesses, a trader at the Eke Awka market”, Mr. Innocent Okoye said.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/one-year-on-weekly-sit-at-home-brings-south-east-economy-to-its-knees/

The ediot that sat down and wrote this trash,just wrote for writing sake. No where was it mentioned that Simon Ekpa should be targeted and arrested by the Nigeria govt..nothing at all about his destructive activities and you want us to believe your write up of pretence?! Why’s there so much silence from the FG and state govs on their stance on Simeon Ekpa?

IPOB has long cancelled the sit at home but another faction led by Finland based Simon Ekpa gave a conflicting directive and are using Unknown Gunmen to forcefully implement it.
People comply out of fear of attack from the violent Simon Ekpa group.

With the emergence of Obi, Simon Ekpa and his cohorts are already been seen as saboteurs for saying there won't be election in the South East, believe me they will face stiff resistance if they don't adhere to advise to focus on eliminating bandits in Biafraland and not Nigeria election.

Peter Obi presidency will unified this country and bring all these nonsense to an end

This sit at home has brought business to it's knees in the south east. It's just sad that this keeps on happening with no end in sight.

All this will end next year, that's why we need to vote wisely this time.

Vote LP for your sanity and rest of mind

It's well

The igbos are dying and smiling.

They'll send themselves to extinction soon. By killing themselves and supporting it. Unknown gunmen, ipob and Esn are killing your people, yet you support them. Keep ruining your economy and killing yourselves. South sudan promax welcomes you.

Yet they'll be the first to be criticising the hausa and Fulani guys. It's well with you pleople oo

Buhari's premeditated marginalisation of SE caused all these but it's ending soon.

Cobid:
they have got used to it

Funnily, d same ones who can't look at Igbos/ESN/ugm in d face to demand their rights in their backyards are dragging 'rights' with state governors/ppls thousand of kilometers away.

Talk of hypocrisy!

AfghanEastern.

Bubu no send . The harder the war, the harder he is knacking kpekus in za oza room.

The sit at home is necessary!
Folks should stop crying more than the bereaved!

The protests, sit at homes, frustrations and anger that are all associated with the whole political realities in the East are essentials. They're NEEDED ingredients for political emancipation. If you're dormant, you get nothing. Power concedes nothing without force. Sit at home is a very effective peaceful political tool to register the Igbo mans frustrations with the shame called Nigeria. These are essentials and are stages that must be passed for that political freedom to be achieved. It may hurt. It may ultimately be costly in terms of economic losses but in the long run, these protests will help reintroduce the Igbo man in a more politically emphatic terms to other Nigerians. It can only get better from there..

For starters, if not for IPOB-ESNs extremely radical political sensitization in the East, and the fact that Buhari overplayed his hands of hatred towards easterners, folks like Peter Obi will not be attracting much attention today. That's a fact! He didn't attract half of the attention he attracts today when he ran for the vee pee last time. Igbos would have continued with their political apathy. But look at the numbers turning out for their PVCs in the East today. Folks know that this might be the last chance to change things peacefully! Buhari has taught us a bitter lesson and the time for political complacency had gone for good! The sit at homes worked! Igbos have finally decided to seriously engage Nigeria, in other to solve the problems of the marginalization Eastern Nigeria once and for all..

Some people are dragging the F9 position of Biafra restoration, they are fighting each other on newspaper on who stopped the Monday sit at home. The funny thing is the sit at home is on top gear and the compliance is now stretching to the south south. No be juju be that?

Mazi Simon Ekpa

I think it actually calls for celebration

They are not serious

Yes, the economy of the East has taken a hit but the rest of Nigeria is not better either.

No thanks to Buhari and APC.

How come the region that sit at home has better WAEC result than those laughing at them?

IPOB is against the progress of the south east region. They've turned a once peaceful south east region into a battle ground for all manner of idiotic nonentities.

If only they studied their history they would have properly appraised their chances of attaining victory thereby coming up with better strategies that best suites todays reality. They allowed an illiterate from the gutters to rule them. They sheepishly and shamelessly soled their voices to an albino who lacks the ability to see behond his emotions. He turned a very good political/social movement into a terror organisation. Thanks to him and his likes, the south east is today a shadow of itself. When emotions are high, it gives room for social vices and terror.

You don't seek to peacefully break away from a sovereign nation like Nigeria without preparing for war. If their emotions didn't get the better side of them I'm sure they would have come up with better strategies.

The Nigerian Government isn't responsible for the poor state of the south east but their Governors, national house of assembly members, senators, chairmen and councillors are infact the very group of entities stopping the south from progress. How come this truth is so difficult for us all to see?

Like feminism, all IPOB needed to do was to ensure they infiltrated the government by having policies makers in government like federal house of assembly members, senators, governors, chairmen and women etc and then enact effective policies that would propel the south east region towards prosperous economic growth but on the contrary IPOB been led by an Illiterate chose terror over common sense. Too bad they are now pointing accusing fingers at everyone but themselves.

If only Nigerians knew the enormous wealth this great country of ours commands we all would have held our leaders accountable for all the wickedness and injustice they've inflicted upon us.
The rulling political elites of this country are running a highly extractive political and economic system whose modus operandi is to ensure the poor keeps getting poorer.

I hope that someday, eyes will become opened and the common man will rise up against the evil political elites of this country.

Ok

The sit at home order absolutely unnecessary

Nnamdi Kanu is a real Hero.

We know that Buhari can't allow him to go, but he shall surely outlive Buhari and his likes.

PHIPEX:
How come people who sit at home have better WAEC result than those laughing at them?

1bunne4lif:
I think it actually calls for celebration

see mumu

Considering the economic situation of the country, 4 days work week could actually save the government some money.