By Chiedu Uche Okoye
One of the corollaries of the rendition of Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria was the declaration of Monday, the first work day in the week, as a work free day in the south-east by the leadership of the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB). Leaders of the separatist group gave the order in 2021.
Nnamdi Kanu, we all know, was the leader of IPOB until his rendition to Nigeria, and subsequent incarceration. Before he was brought back to Nigeria from Kenya, he used diverse methods, both orthodox and unorthodox, to agitate for the creation of the state of Biafra. He wanted, and perhaps still wants, a separate country to be carved out of Nigeria for the people of the southeast and other Igbo people, who live in states, which are contiguous to the Southeast.
It is an understatement to say that he was a thorn in the flesh of the Nigerian political leaders, whom he ridiculed, criticized, and caricatured. Not only did he characterize Nigeria as a zoo, but he, also, stated with conviction that Mohammadu Buhari, who was the president of Nigeria, then, was a clone or double of one Jubril from Sudan. His separatist messages, which highlighted the mistreatment of the Igbo people in Nigeria, endeared him to his ethnic compatriots.
But his pro-Biafra rhetoric irked and unsettled the Nigerian leaders to no end. So he was renditioned to Nigeria. Not surprisingly, the defanged IPOB leadership gave the directive that every Monday should be work free day in the southeast of Nigeria so as to show solidarity with him. Since then, and until recently, most towns in Anambra state were turned to ghost towns on Mondays. People would stay indoors on Mondays to avoid being attacked by the enforcers of the sit-at-home directive.
And not a few people who violated the sit-at-home order were mowed down by gunmen. The killing of people who purportedly violated the sit-at-home directive given by IPOB struck fear into the hearts and minds of the people. Then, fear pervaded the entire landscape of the Igbo nation or southeast.
But people’s observance of the IPOB’s sit-at-home directive had caused us incalculable damage. As schools did not open on Mondays, teachers were unable to teach their pupils and students all the topics contained in the schools’ curricula and syllabuses. As a result, the shortchanged students were ill-prepared for such school examinations as SSCE, NABTEB, NECO, UTME, and others. That accounted, partly, for the abysmal performances recorded by students in the examinations, then.
Again, street traders and hawkers whose survival depended on the money they earned on a daily basis were badly affected by the Anambra people’s observance of the sit-at-home order. And the chief consequence of the closure of markets on Mondays in Anambra state was the precipitous dip in the revenue generated for the state. Can a sub-national government whose finance is not in a fine fettle execute infrastructural development?
More so, people’s observance of the sit-at-home directive created the illusion in people’s minds that two parallel governments existed in Anambra state. It emboldened non-state actors and separatist groups to carry out nefarious deeds. It, also, made them have the belief, though erroneous, that they could challenge the government to a battle and overrun it. When people abide by the dictates and directives of a proscribed and defanged separatist organization, it implies that the government is weak; and that it can be sacked through the masses’ revolt.
Thankfully, and expectedly, Gov. Chukwuma Soludu of Anambra state rose to the occasion. He had acted wisely, decisively, and swiftly to obliterate the people’s observance of sit-at-home in Anambra state. He wielded the big stick by closing markets, which were not opened on Mondays. The closure of the Onitsha main market and its reopening sent warning signals to the market leaders in the state that Gov. Soludo cannot be trifled with.
Again, for their non-compliance with Anambra state government’s proclamation and pronouncement on sit-at-home, the February salaries of a great number of Anambra state government workers were slashed. Humongous sums of money were deducted from their salaries. And there is the likelihood that Gov. Soludo would use other stiffer measures to compel the recalcitrant and errant civil servants into line.
In addition to that, schools whose pupils and students stayed away from schools on Mondays were not spared the state government’s punishment. In some schools in Anambra state, the defaulting school children were suspended from schools for a week. And the state government has continued to drum it into the ears of school heads that condign punishment would be meted out to teachers and students, who flout its order on sit-at-home.
Gov. Soludo’s abolition of the people’s observance of sit-at-home in Anambra state has loosened the non-state actors firm grip on the state. As a result, the people’s minds are now disabused of the notion and feeling that two parallel governments exist in Anambra state; and that non-state actors are invincible and unconquerable.
Thankfully, now, Anambra state has returned to the state of normalcy, for which it’s known, what with school children going to schools on Mondays, markets opening on Mondays, too, and civil servants sitting in their offices on those days instead of sitting at home.
Chiedu Uche Okoye wrote from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra state (08062220654). He is a poet and civil servant.
