Shehu Sani Reacts Over Enforcement Of Sit-at-home In South-East Nigeria

The legislator made the remarks in response to Simon Ekpa’s 5-day enforced sit-in order given by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Shehu Sani, a former senator who represented Kaduna Central District in the 8th Assembly, has condemned the enforced sit-at-home order in Nigeria’s South-East area as a form of terror and tyranny.

The legislator made the remarks in response to Simon Ekpa’s 5-day enforced sit-in order given by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

IPOB Blasts Simon Ekpa, Bans Any Sit-at-home In South East

While sit-ins are a lawful and harmless form of dissent or civil protest, Sani claims that when they are enforced and become violent or obeyed out of fear of being victimized by the order’s enforcers, they become another type of terror.

He described sit-at-home as a “peaceful and legitimate means of dissent or civil protest; but once it’s enforced by force, violence or threats, and complied with out of fear, it has become another form of terror and tyranny.”

IPOB originally proclaimed a sit-in in 2021, after its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria to face treasonable felony and terrorism accusations brought by the Nigerian government.

The sit-in was supposed to last every Monday across the South-East until Kanu was released from the secret police, Department of State Services (DSS).

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However, following widespread criticism of the order, particularly its crippling effects on the region’s economy, IPOB revoked it but maintained that it would only be observed on any day Kanu appeared in court for trial.

However, the sit-at-home order has always been nasty and murderous, as armed hoodlums constantly hijack the order’s enforcement and utilize the chance to abuse, rob, attack, and kill people and destroy property.

Meanwhile, IPOB has frequently distanced itself from the violence and killings related with the sit-in, claiming that the Nigerian government hired Ekpa to disrupt the order in order to threaten the separatist group.

Ekpa declared a 5-day sit-in across the South-East from December 9-13, warning that anyone who fails to heed the order would be dealt with, while IPOB disavowed the order and advised members of the public to disregard it and go about their daily business.

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Unfortunately, the South-East has been bloody since Friday, the first day of the order, as gunmen allegedly enforcing the sit-at-home order have been attacking and killing people, particularly in Imo and Enugu states, where many people, including Prince Iheme, the elder brother of Nollywood superstar, Osita Iheme, have been killed and cars and markets have been burned down.

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