Pitfalls of IPOB ‘sit at home’ strategy

The recent arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has altered the face of separatist political agitation in the Southeast. The organisation recently upped the ante by ordering a weekly ‘sit at home’ protest in all the states in the zone. By the order, businesses and normal work and social activities in the zone are suspended every Monday. To date, this order has been obeyed largely out of fear of the violent enforcers acting on behalf of IPOB. Banks have been closed to the public just as markets and shops have been shuttered. Inter-state transportation has similarly been affected while educational institutions have considered it wise to observe one day of compulsory holiday every week.

Ostensibly, the sit-at-home protest is aimed at drawing attention to the plight of Kanu and possibly influencing the outcome of the court cases against him. But on their part, the various state governments and the security agencies have constantly underlined the illegality of the order. Repeatedly, they have appealed to the people to go about their normal commercial and social activities. But the fear of IPOB and other enforcement vigilantes has kept people indoors and businesses closed on all such days for reasons of personal safety and security.

Predictably, in an effort to ensure compliance with their illegal order, IPOB has seen it fit to use thugs to infringe on the freedom and safety of innocent citizens who insist on exercising their basic freedoms of movement and enterprise on the days of the sit-at-home protests. Reports of murder of some innocent citizens in various locations under the illegal order have further complicated the internal security challenge in the zone.

So far, there is scant evidence that this strategy has altered the plight of Kanu who is awaiting trial for a cocktail of treason-related offences in Abuja where he is being held in the facilities of the Department of State Services (DSS). There is also no evidence that the sit-at-home strategy has brought IPOB and its sympathisers any closer to the attainment of their larger political objective of a ‘Biafra’ nation. Instead, the economic life of the zone and the sense of order has been adversely affected. Days without banking services, closed markets and government offices have meant vast economic losses with a cumulative dent on the wellbeing of people in the region. “How does enslaving our people, denial of means of livelihood add value to our quest for equity and justice?” asked Senator Chimaroke Nnamani.
Against the background of the civil war experience, the sit-at-home regime has created a certain siege mentality throughout the zone. The attack last week on schools and the dispersal of students undergoing examination in Imo State has heightened the fear of anarchy. In all, the sense of alienation of the people of the zone from the mainstream of national life could only increase with these disruptions.

Perhaps in recognition of the futility of the strategy, IPOB has itself lately issued a counter order cancelling its sit-at-home directive. Similarly, the Southeast Caucus of the National Assembly has denounced the order and pointed at its overall futility and negative impact on the economic and social life of the people. In tandem, individual governors of the states in the zone have initiated measures aimed at negating popular compliance with the IPOB order. With these developments, there is now increased optimism that this self-defeating strategy will be reversed, thereby saving the region further economic losses and social dislocations.

While individuals and groups reserve the right to protest to draw attention to matters that irk them, it needs to be kept constantly in view that the common good defined in terms of uninterrupted legitimate social and economic activities must not be held hostage by a pursuit of some ill-digested narrow interests.

(THISDAY)