August 01, (THEWILL) – Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has agreed to hold a discussion with Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) and his group to find a lasting solution to the incessant sit-at-home order in Southeast Nigeria.
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, made this known in a statement made available to newsmen. “As a father, I hereby request Mr Simon Ekpa and his group for a discussion and an opportunity to air their grievances,” he said.
He stressed that it is disheartening that the people of Southeast Nigeria are being subjected to hardships by the incessant call for sit-at-home.
Chief Iwuanyanwu highlighted that unfortunately, several non-state actors, in an attempt to enforce the order, have unleashed mayhem on the people. He indicated that several people have been killed, maimed and property worth millions of naira destroyed.
His words: “The sit-at-home order has been instilling fears and trepidation in 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.”
Chief Iwuanyawu revealed that 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.
The Ohanaeze leader further highlighted that the increasing insecurity and activities of unknown gunmen in the region due to the sit-at-home orders resulted in over 250 persons losing their lives through the enforcement of the sit-at-home order.
On the fresh two-week 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 the sit-at-home with an order to Ekpa to desist from declaring further sit-at-home.
“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 antagonising the Governors of the Southeast and 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 destabilising the home front,” he said.
Iwuanyawu 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 the Southeast Governors on their efforts to put a stop to the order, and sympathized with “families, who have lost loved ones and property during these sad and unfortunate events.”
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