Politicians Behind Onitsha Main Market Sit-at-Home Protest – Soludo

Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has accused some political opponents of masterminding the every Monday sit-at-home protest  being observed by traders in Onitsha Main Market and Nnewi.

He said in a press conference at the Light House, Awka, yesterday that the weekly sit-at-home protest  being observed in the two markets was clearly an act of “economic sabotage” by enemies of the state and the South East region at large.

He, however, warned that his administration was fully determined to stop the closure of the Onitsha Main Market, warning that he would not back down on the one week closure of the market he imposed last Monday, but, would even extend it by another two weeks if after the expiration of the current one week closure the market was closed on Monday again.

Soludo dismissed the threat that traders might sue his government over the one-week closure of the market with a wave of the hand.

He said that the Onitsha Main Market is owned by the state government, and that the government reserved the right to revoke the rights of all those who own shops in the market, pay them compensation and acquire the market for overriding public interests.

He wondered why the Onitsha Main Market that was bubbling with business activities every Monday, and, even on Sundays during the preparations for Christmas celebrations without any record of security breaches would suddenly be closed down at the beginning of the new year for the traders to start observing sit-at-home in sympathy with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) cause.

Besides, Soludo said that when he visited the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu about two years ago when he was in the detention of the Department of State Services (DSS) he assured him that he was not in support of the Monday sit-at-home because of the negative implications on the people of South East and the economy of the zone.

Soludo also stated that besides the obvious tight security environment prevailing in the state, there were about 150 security operatives providing security in Onitsha Main Market, and wondered who were responsible for the insecurity the traders were afraid of in opening shops on Mondays.

“There are criminals, saboteurs, and, some politicians who are instigating the sit-at-home.

“You are sabotaging your state, and, impoverishing the common people, the artisans, petty traders, sabotaging the poor people, I will bring the full weight of the government against this nonsense. It has to stop.

“We have dialogued with the leaders of the market since past two years, and, IPOB sit-at-home ended two years ago”, Soludo warned further.

He further said that his government would prescribe regulations that would be passed into law to regulate operations in the Main Market so that any shop owner who violated the law would face the consequences of such breach.

He also said that his administration has already produced a master plan for the construction of the Onitsha Main Market saying that his government was just taking time to make sure that necessary arrangements were put in place to provide alternative spaces for traders when the reconstruction kicked off.