The two-week sit-at-home order issued by Simon Ekpa has suffered a setback. Residents of Southeast states shunned the order and attended to their daily schedules yesterday.
In Imo State, business owners in the Owerri metropolis opened to customers.
Banks, markets, supermarkets, restaurants and artisans operated unhindered.
Transporters operated at their terminals on Egbu Road, Arugo Park, on the Owerri-Onitsha road.
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However, it was learnt that residents of volatile local government areas like Orlu, Njaba and Oguta were scared to move about freely.
A resident, who simply identified himself as Donatus, said: “People were indoors in Orlu because of the area’s volatile nature.”
In Enugu, public institutions opened for businesses, even as individuals went about their normal lives without fear.
Public transportation also witnessed a boom as people moved about freely.
Security operatives were stationed at strategic locations within the Enugu metropolis to ward off any untoward situation.
Residents described the order as ‘reckless and an attempt by Ekpa to play with their lives as he wished, and inflict more hardship on them’.
“Though we have ended the Monday sit-at-home in Enugu, it has already done enough damage to the people.
“This new order will amount to emasculating the people of the Southeast economically. I think Ekpa only wanted to test our resolve to continue to be afraid of his violence.
“I think today has shown that we can’t tolerate all that anymore”, a resident, Dr. Sly Okpala said.
Residents of Ebonyi as usual ignored the order and went about their normal activities.
Abakaliki, the state capital, witnessed a beehive of socio-economic activities as people went about their normal activities.
The city was peaceful and the atmosphere was calm.
Security operatives were on patrol and also stationed at strategic points across the city.
Vehicular activities were also unhindered as commuters moved freely from one location to another.
At Kpirikpiri Market, transactions went on without restrictions. A trader described Ekpa’s order as wicked.
“Why would anybody ask people to stay at home for two whole weeks? What will people eat? Children are on holiday. How do we cope with their upkeep if we stay at home?
“Next month they resume school. How do we make money to pay their fees if we stay at home for two weeks?” he queried.
Residents of Umuahia, the Abia capital, and their counterparts in Aba, the commercial nerve centre, also went about their day-to-day businesses.
Unlike Monday when people sat out of their shops, offices and business centres, schools opened for summer lessons, even as traders and other business outlets opened for transactions.
Banks and other public and private institutions were also opened for business.
Uniform personnel, including traffic wardens, who stayed away from their duty posts on Monday, were seen controlling traffic.
Loading bays of commercial transport companies also opened for business.
Gates of major and roadside markets were open, and trading went on unhindered.
Some of the traders, Mr. Clement Nwaka and Mrs. Dorathy, however, complained of low patronage.
According to them, most of their customers come from neighbouring states and African countries, but because of the uncertainty of the sit-at-home, some of them could not come to the market, while others requested that their orders be weigh-billed to them.
They were confident their customers would start coming back before the week ran out.
Anambra for the first time ignored the sit-at-home order. While residents defied the order, security operatives took over the roads, with Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, leading the troops.
Except for the banks that failed to open, other businesses opened to customers. Vehicles plied the major cities of Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi and Ekwulobia.
It was gathered that Ihiala Local Government Area was partially grounded as residents feared attack by hoodlums. Communities like Lilu, Azia, Okija, Ihembosi, and Iseke, among others, have been under attack by miscreants for a long time.
A resident said there were skeletal human and vehicular movements in almost all the communities in Ihiala.
He said: “I just returned from Owerri today. While I was approaching the boundary between Imo and Anambra, I observed the absence of vehicles along the road. I only saw cars when I entered Nnewi.”
Meanwhile, Onitsha and its environs recorded about 35 per cent compliance compared to what it used to be before the present order. A tricycle operator, Okorocha Mkeme, who attributed the compliance to fear, expressed joy over Nnamdi Kanu’s counter announcement, using his handwriting to condemn Ekpa and his criminal sit-at-home order.
He said: “Fear gripped the people because of the said criminal, Simon Ekpa, who lives in Finland and issues a weeks’ sit-at-home order to Southeast people. Simon Ekpa will never see a good thing in his life. People fear that he will send his boys to enforce the order because it is always an opportunity for them to attack, maim, rob, kidnap and assassinate their innocent Southeast brothers in the name of fighting to release Nnamdi Kanu.
“What saved the situation now is the personal counter announcement from Kanu, using his handwriting to condemn Ekpa and his criminal sit-at-home order. We thank whoever may have permitted Kanu to consult his doctor outside the DSS cell.
“That assures us that if he is released, Ekpa’s hope of milking the people in the Southeast through enforcement of non-existent sit-at-home will be dashed.”
A trader in Nnewi also accused Ekpa of selfishness, saying he had wanted to take over IPOB leadership
“His prayer is that Kanu will remain in DSS custody and possibly die there to enable him to overshadow other IPOB members and become the leader, but he has failed,” he said.
