In certain Southeast states, Mondays and any other day designated as a sit-at-home day—not public holidays— are off-limits to students. Large shopping centres like Roban Stores, Spar, and ShopRite, as well as several other large marketplaces like the main markets in Ogbete, Onitsha, Nnewi Automobile, and many other states like Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia, close for business on Mondays at 3 or 4 p.m., or on any day that the area declares a sit-at-home day.
Because of the local sit-at-home panic, owners of petrol stations, food carts, and other small businesses are hesitant to operate on Mondays.
Every time someone disobeys the sit-at-home directive to move around on Mondays or any other day of the week designated as such, panic ensues, despite the Southeast state governments’ extraordinary pledges to end the sit-at-home epidemic in their states, according to investigations.
Every child in the Southeast under the age of six has accepted the depressing reality of Monday’s stay-at-home day. They are aware that Mondays are no longer the days they attend school. Banks and other corporate entities are not spared because, in response to the sit-at-home panic, they operate covertly and minimally on Mondays.
Despite the declaration of ‘Operation No More Sit-At-Home’ by the governments of Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia, as well as the mandatory attendance of civil servants on Mondays and other sit-at-home days, the fundamental reality is that the sit-at-home epidemic has severely crippled Monday-related commercial activities throughout the Southeast.
Despite strong pleas from prominent figures in the state of Anambra, such as Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, for the Federal Government to free Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra, from detention and put an end to the region’s rising insecurity and sit-at-home trend, the government of the federation has not found any reason to act, and as a result, it continues to put off taking action.
Advocates of the sit-at-home directive assert that it was implemented as a show of support for the Southeast-born IPOB leader. To pray for good health and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s release from extended detention, Mondays are designated as work-free days. However, since criminal elements are now taking advantage of the sit-at-home order to terrorise and mayhem innocent, gullible citizens in the Southeast, it appears that the original intent behind its implementation has been defeated.
The big question is: What happens on Mondays in places like Ihiala, Orsu, Oru, Orlu, and other interior communities in Southeast, even though state capitals in the region may not be as severely affected by the sit-at-home epidemic as other regions? Because of the insecurity, the nightlife in the area has all but disappeared.
Therefore, according to Osita Obi, the Convener of the Recover Nigeria Project, Anambra State still has not mastered the sit-at-home culture. According to Obi, Anambra employees now use the Monday sit-at-home day as a justification for skipping work. He also thinks that if traditional leaders and community presidents-general take an interest in the safety and security of their constituents, insecurity in the Southeast can be stopped.
The coordinator and convener of the Anambra Keke Drivers Forum, Obi, asserted that social life has vanished from the state, except for Awka, the capital. He claimed that Onitsha and other towns have no nightlife and that the state government has not taken many steps to safeguard citizens’ lives and property.
The All Progressives Congress’ Assistant State Secretary in Anambra, Engr. Sam Oraegbunam, echoed Osita Obi’s comments, stating that Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has not done much to end the state’s Monday sit-at-homes. However, Oraegbunam pointed out that business is booming and that the governors of Imo and Ebonyi States have discontinued the Monday sit-at-home in their respective states. He said that nothing happens in Anambra State on Mondays despite the government of Anambra State’s persistent deception to the people about its victory over stay-at-homes.
The Southeast Governors need to collaborate and exchange ideas to put an end to the state of insecurity (sit-at-home), according to Basil Ejidike, State Chairman of the APC in Anambra, who expressed doubts that individual state efforts would be sufficient to combat the issue. In contrast to what is occurring in the states of Enugu and Ebonyi, respectively, he claimed that the government of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has not taken many security-related actions.
Ejidike mentioned that the police have no logistical equipment to operate because Police Stations, patrol cars, and other items destroyed by criminals years ago have not been rebuilt or replaced. But he made it clear that the government must acknowledge that safeguarding people’s lives and property is its first and most important duty. He also believed that Dr. Chris Ngige and Peter Obi’s administration provided the majority of the vehicles used by the Anambra State police.
To enable people to have access to police stations where they can file complaints and receive redress, Ejidike—who is also the coordinating chairman of Southeast APC chairmen—advised the APGA-led state government in Anambra to make a concerted effort to rebuild all the police stations that were damaged by thugs years ago.
Chief Chris Udeze, National Coordinator of Community Policing Partners and Chief Security Officer of the Nkpor community in the Idemili-North local government area of Anambra State, noted that Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is working feverishly to put an end to the Monday sit-at-homes this year. According to Udeze, there is no fear whatsoever when people conduct business on Mondays.
The security expert said that Governor Soludo should be commended because the state’s security situation is improving and explained that the Monday sit-at-home was best for the citizens of Anambra State and the Southeast as a whole.
The state’s nightlife, he noted, is progressively reviving, particularly in Nkpor, where he said that people could still spend the late hours of the night in beer parlours without fear of harassment from thugs. He also mentioned that more work is being done to get rid of the Monday sit-at-home trend in Anambra State and the Southeast.
