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Sit-at-home: Traders Protest As Security Operatives Barricade Onitsha Main Market

Traders protesting the shutdown of Onitsha Main Market on Tuesday 

Traders at Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State on Tuesday staged a protest over the closure of Onitsha Main Market by the state government. 

This followed the directive by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, who on Monday ordered the shutdown of the market for one-week over the traders’ continued compliance with IPOB's directive on sit-at-home. 

The traders numbering over 2000 marched round the market hailing the incarcerated leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. 

Soludo had lamented that the Monday sit-at-home costs Anambra State about N8bn weekly, and the South East region N19.6bn, while disrupting work and other economic activities.

"The government cannot stand by while few individuals willfully undermine public safety and disregard official directives meant to restore normalcy. This is plain economic sabotage. We are not going to allow this.

"The closure is a protective measure for law-abiding citizens," saying that if traders failed to open at the expiration of the one-week shutdown, the market would be closed for another week and subsequently for longer periods.

But the IPOB countered the governor's directive, describing it as disappointing and unacceptable, advising residents to defy the closure and resume trading on Tuesday.

Security Enforcement 
To enforce the governor's directive, hundreds of security personnel were sighted barricading the market, while many security vehicles, including Armoured Personnel Carriers and Hillux vans, were used to block strategic locations across the area. 

They prevented the traders from gaining access into the market premises while the shops remained under lock and key. 

Other traders who traveled to Onitsha from different parts of Nigeria to purchase goods were stranded and shocked at the latest development. 

The sit-at-home was introduced by the IPOB on August 9, 2021, to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, with banks, schools, markets, and motor parks ordered to shutdown on Mondays. 

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