Ohanaeze Ndigbo, apex Igbo socio-political organization, has agreed to meet and discuss with the acclaimed prime minister of Biafra Government in Exile, Simon Ekpa, and his cohorts.
The meeting, as disclosed by Ohanaeze, is scheduled to find a lasting solution to the incessant sit-at-home orders in the South-East.
The organisation’s statement issued on Monday by Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, the President General, read: “We hereby request Mr. Simon Ekpa and his group for a discussion and an opportunity to air their grievances.
“Unfortunately, several non-state actors in an attempt to enforce the order have unleashed mayhem on the people. Several people have been killed, and maimed, and property worth millions of naira have been destroyed.
“The sit-at-home order has been instilling fears and trepidation on the good people of the Southeast, making it difficult for people to come out to transact their lawful businesses. The Southeast is noted for micro, small and medium-scale enterprises, indigenous manufacturing, fabrication, and agro-allied industries. Authorities have put the losses encountered by the people of Southeast at trillions of naira on each sit-at-home day.”
Iwuanyawu added that the region had witnessed a loss of clients and customers who find alternatives because of the unstable business environment.
“The food transporters to the Southeast charge more for a trip to the region because of these sit-at-home orders,” he added.
Iwuanyanwu who further highlighted the increasing insecurity and activities of unknown gunmen in the region noted that “over 250 persons are estimated to have lost their lives through the enforcement of the sit-at-home order.”
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Speaking on the fresh two weeks’ sit-at-home declared by Ekpa, Iwuanyawu said, “This is unacceptable and must not be allowed to succeed in Igboland.
“Kanu, on whose behalf Ekpa claims to be working, has directed the said Simon Ekpa ‘to end all sit-at-home in the Southeast and to stop antagonizing the governors of the Southeast or politicians from the region.’
“It is disturbing that at a time Ohanaeze is engaging the Igbo entrepreneurs all over the world on a think-home philosophy, a foreign based Igbo is bent on destabilizing the home front.”
“The sit-at-home in Igbo-land should be discountenanced. I urge the security operatives to exercise the highest degree of prudence in the discharge of their official duties to avoid further loss of innocent lives in Igbo-land,”
Meanwhile, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti said that residents of the State cannot afford to stay at home for two weeks in compliance with the directive issued by the Ekpa’s
Otti said this on Monday in Abuja, the Federal capital, on the sideline of a security meeting convened by the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu to address issues of insecurity in the South-East, which was attended by the Governors of the region.
The Abia Governor who said only a handful of people were benefitting from the sit-at-home order, said the government cannot sit and watch them succeed.
“Governments all over the world cannot be threatened and we need to sound that note of warning.
“You cannot afford to sit at home when you have work to do. A lot of people live on a daily basis; the taxi drivers, the keke drivers, the woman that is selling pepper in the market, if she sits at home for two weeks, she will die of hunger.
“So, it (the order) is null and void,” Otti told journalists after the security meeting.
