Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu has threatened that traders in Enugu who observe next Monday’s sit-at-home order of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) will lose their shops and licenses.
Mbah stated this when he toured various parts of the state capital on Monday to monitor the level of compliance with his ban on the order.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that a few days after their assumption of office, the governor announced an end to the order, effective from June 5.
He had said such orders restrict creativity, entrepreneurship, and productivity in the state, and threatened to close any school, markets, and financial institutions, among others, that obey the order.
The governor warned that traders, who continued to sit at home from Monday, July 24, stood to lose their shops to serious-minded businessmen.
He said adequate security had been provided in the areas, adding that there had not been any incident of attack since the ban on sit-at-home in June.
To the traders at Ogbete, Garki, and other markets, the governor warned that locking shops on Mondays would no longer be condoned.
Mbah, who took time to interact with business owners, shoppers, traders as well as civil servants at the State Secretariat, said “it should never be heard that we were cowed because of the threat of violence by these criminals.
“The poverty that will befall us for sitting at home will kill us even faster. We are losing over N10 billion every Monday that we sit at home. Enough is enough. This foolishness must end and it must end now. We cannot be marginalising ourselves and still complain of marginalisation.
“So, we must say no to sit-at-home because what it means is that we are destroying our employment, our economy, and our GDP.”
Meanwhile, the market leaders and business owners have assured the governor that they were now ready for full compliance, saying they were already sick and tired of the Monday sit-at-home.
