.As Banks, Shops, Schools Shut Down
By Okey Alozie
Sit-at-home order of IPOB in Imo State according to investigation recorded success in major parts of the State.
Banks, Shops, Schools, Eatery Joints and Business Centers were shut down despite Government order.
Good number of Imolites complied with the IPOB sit-at-home order and ignored Government directives.
Our roving reporter observed that Banks, Shops and Business premises along Control, Port Harcourt road, Weathral and other strategic places in Owerri could not open for business.
In the hinterland, people were indoors and refused to come out until evening. At State Secretariat Owerri, Civil Servants who came to work were not much in number.
Many Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Directors who were to be on duty Monday 31st of July at the State Secretariat complex located along Owerri Porthacourt road were not physically seen in their various Ministries.
Some the workers said they came not to work because of fear of unknown gunmen. According to them, life is more important than work. “Government should give us security” some of the civil servants demanded.
The Government of Imo State before now had sent a strong warning to business establishments in the State including Banks and Eatery joints not to observe sit-at-home order by a faction of IPOB led by Simon Ekpa.
The government threatened to sack any worker who complied with IPOB directive and obeyed the intending two weeks sit-at-home order.
The Imo government gave this stern warning on Friday through the Commissioner for Trade. Commerce and Investment, Hon Simon Ebe-Egbulam during a World Press Conference in Owerri, the State capital.
Ebegbulam said that the repeated sit-at-home across the South East States is a colossal loss and economic damage to the region, adding that it must be stopped immediately. He regretted that billions of naira have been lost since the commencement of the sit-at-home in the south east states.
The leader of indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as we were told has written Simon Ekpa to stop the sit-at-home order.
Our roving reporter also noticed that security personnel came out and patrolled around the areas to protect lives and property.
However, many people on their own decided not to come out at all.
