Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, has ordered troops to seize control of areas where the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) enforce their sit-at-home order throughout the five southeastern states.
Development Diaries reports that the army chief gave the order after a Finland-based pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, announced that there would be a two-week sit-at-home in the country’s southeast from 31 July.
According to Ekpa, the order was to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as well as facilitate the freedom of Biafra nation, among others.
He warned that failure to comply with the sit-at-home order would attract ‘heavy consequences’.
However, it is understood that troops of the 82 Division of the army have been given an order to work with other security outfits to ensure citizens freely go about their legitimate businesses.
Last week, the government of Enugu State, southeast Nigeria, threatened to close down schools and markets that observe sit-at-home order enforced by IPOB.
Secretary to the State Government, Chidiebere Onyia, in a statement said any school that fails to open will have its licence revoked immediately.
Ordering the shutdown of schools and markets does not in any way address the glaring security challenges posed by the separatist group.
The growing insecurity in the southeast is worrisome and calls for urgent action to stem the tide before it consumes the entire subregion.
Some southeast residents are now leaving the region in order to escape being killed due to the increased level of insecurity.
When citizens are prevented from conducting lawful activities because they fear being killed or injured by ‘unknown gunmen’, in the midst of a sit-at-home order, it raises concerns about the competence of both the federal and state governments.
Before it is too late, governors of states in the southeast need to step up and deal with this growing security problem in line with section 14, subsection two(b) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that ‘the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government’.
Development Diaries calls on the Nigerian military and the police to ensure that security in the southeast is enhanced for citizens to carry out their legitimate businesses.
Photo source: Nigerian Army
