A robust response to rascality

The  Anambra State Government has said it will not pay August salary to any worker who abstains from duty in obedience to the sit-at-home directive from the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Neighbouring Ebonyi has directed people of the state to ignore the sit-at-home order.

The Anambra government, in a a circular issued by the Head Of  Service (HOS), Harry Udu, asked public service workers to report to their duty posts last Monday, “unfailingly or be sanctioned”. The circular directed commissioners and permanent secretaries to monitor the situation and report their findings. The circular read in part: “The Government of Anambra State has directed that all workers in the state (that they) must attend to their duties on Monday 9th August 2021. Failure to do so will result in severe sanctions including loss of salary for the month of August.

All Hon. Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries are to monitor and report compliance, please.”

IPOB over the weekend declared a sit-at-home protest every Monday in the Southeast beginning August 9 to prevail on the Federal Government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu from detention for treasonable felony. The group, in a statement issued by its media and publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said that the “Monday sit-at-home order is sacrosanct.”

It said the Southeast would be locked down from 6 am to 6.pm every Monday, beginning August 9, 2021until its leader “Nnamdi Kanu who was abducted in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria and locked up in DSS dungeon in clear violation of international laws is freed”. The statement added: “All markets, schools, motor parks, airports, and public places in Biafra land should shut down from morning to evening every Monday.”

In Ebonyi, governor David Umahi countered the IPO Baid directive by asking residents to “feel free to go about their lawful businesses” on Monday, August 9, 2021, promising that his administration was committed to developing all sectors of the state and could “not afford to be dragged backward under any guise.” The governor, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant (SA) on Media and Publicity, Francis Nwaze, emphasized that Monday remained a working day across the state, adding that “markets, banks, schools, etc, will operate normally.”

While the governor appealed to the youth to desist from engaging in acts capable of leading to the breakdown of law and order,  he directed security agencies to “”be on the alert and ensure that all law-abiding citizens go about their duties unmolested.”

We commend the positions of Anambra and Ebonyi governments on the order by IPOB for people in the Southeast to stay at home. This banned terror group has constituted itself into a parallel government, challenging the legitimacy and authority of democratically elected governments in that of the Nigerian nation.

This impunity has gone on for too long. It must be stopped now. What Anambra and Ebonyi have done is a step in the right direction. We call on the rest of the governments in the geopolitical zone to do the same. They should show that they are in charge there, not some rogue organization.