Normal business and other activities have returned to Abia State, South-East Nigeria, after several weeks of forced weekly Monday sit-at-home civil action.
Though the proscribed separatist agitation group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB which ordered civil disobedience in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria, had announced the suspension of the sit-at-home action, residents had continued to say indoors every Monday for the past weeks.
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Despite persuasions and threats by some Governors of the region to sanction businesses that failed to open every Monday, residents chose to keep away from public places and business areas on such days.
But, the situation is different this Monday, In Umuahia, the Abia State capital, banks, markets, shops, motor parks, and government offices which used to look desolate on Mondays, are all bubbling with activities, as complete vehicular and human movements have returned on the roads and streets.
Also in Aba, the commercial nerve center of the state, normal trading and commercial activities have returned in the city, as residents now move around freely without any fear of molestation.
The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, had on the 9th of August, 2021, issued a sit-at-home order, for the people of the South East region of Nigeria, to demand the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu from the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.
After the first week, the order was suspended, but many residents remained apprehensive, following violent attacks by those suspected to be enforcing the order.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
