Ohanaeze Ndigbo has agreed to hold a discussion with the acclaimed prime minister of Biafra Government in Exile, Mr Simon Ekpa, and his group to find a lasting solution to their incessant sit-at-home orders in Southeast.
The president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, disclosed this Monday night in a release he personally signed.
Quoting Chief Iwuanyawu, “As a father, I hereby request Mr Simon Ekpa and his group for a discussion and an opportunity to air their grievances.”
Ohanaeze, in the release, said it was disheartening that the people of Southeast of Nigeria ‘are being subjected to hardships by the incessant call for sit at home’.
According to him, “Unfortunately several non-state actors in an attempt to enforce the order have unleashed mayhem on the people. Several people have been killed, 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 said the region had witnessed loss of clients and customers who find alternatives because of the unstable business environment in the Southeast, adding that, “The food transporters to the Southeast charge more for a trip to the region because of these sit-at-home orders.”
Iwuanyawu further highlighted the increasing insecurity and activities of unknown gunmen in the region because of the sit-at-home orders, noting that, “Over 250 persons are estimated to have lost their lives through the enforcement of the sit-at-home order.”
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.”
He recalled that IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, through his special counsel, Barr Aloy Ejimakor, last Friday cancelled sit at home with an order to Ekpa to desist from declaring further sit-at-home.
Quoting him, “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.”
Iwuanyawu therefore declared that, “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.”
He commended Southeast governors on their efforts to put a stop to the order, and sympathised with ‘families who have lost loved ones and property during these sad and unfortunate events’.