Tension has risen in Anambra State following the government’s decision to ban the weekly Monday sit-at-home associated with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as authorities and the proscribed group trade arguments over legality and civil rights. The state government has directed workers and businesses to resume normal activities on Mondays and warned of sanctions for defiance.
The decision, announced after an executive retreat last week, includes plans to establish a task force to enforce compliance. Officials say the measure is aimed at curbing economic losses linked to the sit-at-home, which has been blamed for disruptions to commercial activity across the South-East and for undermining Anambra’s revenue projections in its proposed ₦757 billion 2026 budget.
IPOB, however, rejected the directive, describing the sit-at-home as a form of “civil disobedience” that citizens are free to observe. In a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group said no governor has the lawful authority to compel residents to open businesses or move against their will, warning that any enforcement task force would amount to provocation.
The group urged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to respect what it described as a peaceful, non-violent expression of conscience, arguing that voluntary participation in the sit-at-home protest over the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is neither a crime nor an act of rebellion.