ECONOMIC and social activities were partially paralaysed on Monday in the eastern part of the country as many people obeyed the sit-at-home order issued by the  leadership of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to protest the continued detention and trial of MASSOB leader, Chief  Ralph Uwazulike.

The states where there was partial compliance with the directive include Imo, Anambra, Enugu and Abia.
In Owerri municipality, traffic was very light following the apparent withdrawal of commercial and private vehicles from the streets. Similarly, some commercial banks  operating in the state closed their doors to customers, while several private establishments and artisans did not even open for business. Investigations also revealed  that school attendance was low, as parents and guardians were obviously afraid of what would happen to their children, should the protagonists decide to react  negatively. Addressing a press conference in Owerri the President, Disciples of Christ World Congress, Rev. Dr. Maglorious A. Enyioha, lamented that the  organization was unnecessarily overheating the polity.

 “The issue of Biafra was causing a lot of friction in the country. The protagonists of the proposed sovereign state of Biafra are completely off the track, while those at  the helm of affairs are also not handling the agitation in a fatherly manner”, the cleric said. It was his considered opinion that there was nothing wrong with asking for  freedom, even as he insisted that it was wrong to incarcerate a freedom fighter. “I must however say that it is very wrong to seek freedom through the force of arms.  We do not need to destroy precious human lives in the process of asking for freedom”, Enyioha said.

Meanwhile, Imo State Police Command has advised the release, AZ:5250/IMS/PPRD/VOL.12/43, dated December 2, 2005 and signed by the people of Imo State  to disregard the said order and go about their normal businesses. To this effect, the police said it has put everything in place to checkmate the activities of the dissident  group and will leave no stone unturned to arrest and prosecute anybody seen or found fomenting trouble anywhere in the state.

In Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka, markets as well as banks and other businesses in these cities were closed for the greater part of yesterday. Vehicular movement was  scanty especially in the morning hours. However, shop owners opened their businesses later in the day.

Armed policemen were stationed at strategic positions in the cities to ensure that nobody breached the peace while there were no report of any violence.
But Chief Ivy Obi-Okoye, the leader of the PDP faction loyal to Governor Chris Ngige said the people did not come out not because they support the agitation for  Biafra but out of fear of being hurt. Obi-Okoye said Igbo elites are not in support of secession, adding that secession is not in the agenda of the Igbos.
Obi-Okoye however urged the Federal Government to look into the agitations of the ethnic militias and find a way of ameliorating the hardship of the people, saying  that if the people had been enjoying good governance, there would not have been any need for groups like MASSOB to spring up.
Basking in the success it achieved yesterday, MASSOB said the sit-at-home exercise continues today.

Speaking to newsmen in Onitsha MASSOB’s Director of Information, Mr. Uchenna Madu said:
“ What we are doing today (Monday) which will continue on Tuesday 6th December is a warning signal to the Federal Government to release our leader who will be  arraigned in the court on the same Tuesday [today]. We are expressing our right to self determination as enshrined in the African Charter Human Right and Peoples  Rights Article 19 and 20.

“This sit-at-home is not only for the matter of Uwazuruike’s arrest and detention, the simple thing is that the South East, South South and all the sympathizers of  MASSOB are tired of Nigeria because of how  Federal Government is paralyzing their business with bans and restrictions on what they deal on, crippling their  businesses”.

Madu said that the movement is using civil disobedience and non compliance against the Nigerian Government, saying “this is the beginning of what we have in stock  for Nigerian Government if they fail to release our leader on Tuesday, MASSOB will make sure that the country is paralyzed.”Although Enugu State was generally  peaceful, economic and social activities were grounded as youths believed to be MASSOB members set bonfire along major streets and roads forcing the residents  to remain in their homes while government and private offices as well as business operators shut their shops.

The popular Ogbete Main Market was shut while banks along Okpara Avenue, Ogui road and Ziks Avenue were under lock and keys until about noon when they  started to admit customers through the back doors. But security was beefed up around the premises of most of the banks for fear of being attacked by hoodlums.

There were few skirmishes around Obiagu, Coal Camp and Agbani road where youths made bonfires as early as 7.00am and ordered residents to remain in their  homes while private and commercial vehicles were ordered out of the roads, but the quick intervention of anti-riot mobile policemen forced them to retreat. The  heavily armed policemen clashed with the youths around Edinburgh road but the police dispersed them after firing some canisters of teargas, but some newspaper  vendors, were reportedly manhandled by policemen in the process. The policemen, however, continued to patrol major towns in the state yesterday giving a sense of  security to residents who went about their normal businesses from noon.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State Police Command has continued to warn members of the movement to keep away from the state insisting that MASSOB had since been  outlawed in the state. It warned that any member of the movement apprehended would be prosecuted, saying the command would not tolerate any threat to peace in  the state.

Several commuters especially traders travelling to Onitsha and other parts of the east were stranded at the Asaba end of the Niger Bridge yesterday morning  following the sit-home-order embarked upon by MASSOB members.

For several hours yesterday the entire stretch of Benin-Asaba highway starting from Okpanam was virtually deserted as only few vehicles were seen plying the road.
At the Asaba end of the bridge, a truck load of mobile policemen was seen positioned while eight lorry load of armed policemen were seen patrolling the area.
Economic activities in Asaba went on as usual but commercial bus operators plying the Asaba-Onitsha route withdrew their vehicles.
Commenting on the incident, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Col Joseph Achuzia (rtd) called on the government to apply restraint and wisdom in  handling the matter.

On his part, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom said “we have been able to curtail it. MASSOB cannot exist in this (Delta) state that is why you  see business is going on as usual in this state despite the fact that MASSOB declared today and tomorrow work free. But in my state business is going on like any  other day.”Also all Markets and other commercial establishments including filling stations in Abia State were closed yesterday morning. In the commercial city of Aba,  members of MASSOB blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway prompting motorists who were passing through Aba to turn back. Government offices were  however open and civil servants were at their duty posts. Although MASSOB had called on people to stay at home, there was free movement of people and vehicles  within the cities, even though inter city travel could not start until about 4.00 pm.

Luxury buses conveying passengers to Lagos and the northern part of the country could not ply for fear of being attacked. Also, commercial banks which refused to  open for business earlier in the day later commenced full business. As early as 6.00 a.m, stern-looking mobile policemen started patrolling the streets of Aba and  Umuahia thereby sending fears on MASSOB members who had threatened to deal ruthlessly with anybody found on the streets. Abia State commissioner for police,  Mr Adanaya Gaya had on Sunday night issued a statement through the state radio urging people not to heed the MASSOB directive, describing the organization as  an illegal body. According to him, the police was fully prepared to deal with anybody who tried to disrupt the peace, adding that Nigerians were not prepared to fight  another war after the ugly experience of the last civil war.