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Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the interest of peace in the South East.
Mr Mbah made the special appeal while speaking on Thursday, shortly after his first meeting with heads of various security agencies in the state at the Government House, Enugu.
The governor also declared an end to the infamous sit-at-at-home in Enugu, usually enforced by a faction of the IPOB across the South-east region.
‘I call on our newly sworn-in president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to consciously work towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We believe that his release will expedite the healing process Nigeria needs at this time.
‘It will also be a pointer to his administration’s extension of brotherly hands of fellowship to Ndigbo,’ he said.
The Eastern Updates recalls that IPOB, in August 2021, introduced a sit-at-home order every Monday across the South-east to pressure the Nigerian government to release its detained leader, Mr Kanu, who is standing trial for alleged terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
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The separatist group later suspended the order, in preference for it to be implemented only on days Mr. Kanu appears in court.
However, despite its suspension, residents of the five South-east states – Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Anambra — have been observing the Monday sit-at-home order, mostly out of fear.
Speaking on the controversial sit-at-home, Mr Mbah said his administration would resist the continuation of the order in the state from 6 June, pointing out that the civil action was killing the ‘spirit of entrepreneurship, commerce and creativity’ of Igbo people in the state and region.
‘The idea behind sitting at home on Monday, the first working and business day of the week, is abominable and antithetical to greatness and the spirit of industry we profess to have inherited from our forebears. This cannot be us. Tufiakwa (God forbid). It does colossal damage to us’, Mr Mbah stated.
The governor said there was a need to free the markets in the state from the ‘shackles of restriction to commerce’ in order to encourage an ‘influx of private sector practitioners and investors’ in the state.
‘Therefore, those that strike on Mondays, putting restrictions in the way of our Igbo spirit of creativity, cannot be our true representatives. To this end, therefore, from Monday, June 6, 2023, there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State.
‘Government will enforce this with all the powers at its disposal. My charge to all of you – market men and women, the corporate world, industries, schools, civil servants, and all strata of workers in Enugu State is for us to take back our sense of industry, pride of place and re-enact our glorious past.
‘By heeding this call, you would have set us on the path of actualising our mandate, he added.
