The Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has ordered troops to seize control of areas where the Indigenous People of Biafra enforce their sit-at-home order throughout the South-East states.
The order came after a Finland-based pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, announced that there would be a two-week sit-at-home in the South-East region from July 31.
According to him, 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.
Ekpa warned that failure to comply with the sit-at-home order would attract ‘heavy consequences’.
However, speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, declared that such an announcement was unlawful and would not be condoned.
He said the troops of the 82 Division had been given an order to work with other security agencies to ensure citizens go about their businesses freely.
Onyema said, “The renewed threat by IPOB to compel the people in southeastern Nigeria to sit at home is not only appalling but a violation of the fundamental rights of southeastern Nigerians and, therefore, unlawful. This will never be condoned.
“We identified insecurity as one of those inhibitors; we felt that it was a clog in the wheel of our continued development, and that was why, immediately after I assumed office, I convened a Security Council meeting, and following that, we made a pronouncement that we wanted the sit-at-home to end. This is because we have zero tolerance for that.
“There is no way we’ll be able to achieve the exponential picture we have painted, those massive promises about growing our economy and eradicating poverty, it will not happen if we don’t deal with that problem, and of course that requires we tighten our security architecture, and mobilise our security agencies in our state to be able to deal with it.”
Mba said he looked up to the partnership with the Navy to help bolster security in Enugu State and uphold the unity of the country.
He said, “Thus far, we are getting the required support from the security agencies, and we are hoping to see them join hands with us to be able to deal with this big elephant.
“When I was sworn in, I took an oath to defend the unity of this country, and that is exactly what we’ll do, and we are not going to endorse any behavior that is outside that. So, what we are saying, in effect, is that we look forward to partnering with the Navy in those areas that are necessary to do so to achieve one common goal of building one unifying country, peace, and security.”
