Apart from the killing of two soldiers by gunmen in Aba, Abia State, no major ugly incidents were recorded yesterday as residents defied the sit-at-home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB to mark the anniversary of “Biafra Day”.
In the other states of the region, except Imo State, schools, markets, and offices were opened for normal businesses.
However, the major markets in some state capitals and urban towns were shut for fear of being attacked.
In Anambra State, senior secondary school students went to their various centers to write the West African Examination Council Mathematics and General Paper examination yesterday.
LEADERSHIP’s Friday findings showed that the WAEC examination was held at the various centres in Awka, the state capital, Nnewi, the industrial hub, and Onitsha, the commercial and industrial city, without any molestation by members of IPOB.
There was heavy security presence at the various WAEC centres in Awka, including Girls Secondary School, Amaenyi; St. John of God Secondary School, Awka; and Igwebuike Memorial Secondary School, Awka.
It was learned at Nnewi that the WAEC examination was held in a peaceful atmosphere at Good Shepherds’ Primary and Secondary School, Nnewi Secondary School, and other centres.
A police helicopter was noticed hovering at a low distance across the state.
In Awka, the popular Eke Awka was a ghost of itself as all the entrance gates to the market were locked, including all the shops. Also, civil servants did not go to work, as checks at the state secretariat showed that all the premises were deserted by the civil servants.
The state secretariat road and the ever-busy Aroma junction in Awka were virtually deserted by human traffic. The operators and commuters deserted the motor park in Aroma junction, UNIZIK termite, and Eke Awka.
Sources at Nnewi and Onitsha stated that all businesses were closed in those cities as the operators stayed away in compliance with the IPOB-ordered sit-at-home to mark their annual May 30 slated to honor all those who lost their lives in the Biafra Republic agitation, including those who died during the Nigeria civil war, and, thereafter.
The spokesperson of the Anambra State police command, Superintendent of Police Ikenga Tochukwu, said in a statement that the commissioner of police, Nnaghe Itam, personally led a team of the command’s operatives on patrol across the state.
In Enugu State, students defiled the sit-at-home order, to participate in the ongoing WAEC exams
Similarly, workers in the state ministries went to work.
IPOB had declared 30th of every May as a sit-at-home to remember fallen heroes on the side of the defunct Biafra during the Nigerian Civil
The pro-Biafran group said that day is set aside annually to celebrate the men and women who died in the Biafran war between 1967 and 1970 and beyond and even until now.
The group gave the order in a press statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, on Thursday, adding that every Biafran in the South East is expected to sit at home and reflect on the war.
Powerful cautioned South East residents to avoid loitering about on this day, adding that those who intend to travel to and fro Biafra land must do so before the evening of May 29.
Although there were reduced vehicular activities in some areas, our correspondent observed that workers defied attended work
One of the workers who identified herself as Juliet, said she went to work because they were not asked to observe any holiday.
It was observed that there was a heavy presence of security operatives in different parts of Enugu.
In Ebonyi State, private public schools, civil servants and other institutions in Abakaliki, the state capital, and its environs yesterday operated their normal business unmolested.
There was a heavy presence of security operatives within and outside the state capital to ensure the safety of the state’s citizens and forestall any attack or breakdown of law and order.
When LEADERSHIP Friday monitored the level of compliance, banks, some offices, eateries, shopping malls, and markets were locked.
There were a few cars on the road belonging to private individuals as parks were also shut down.
Commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists operated around the city centre.
LEADERSHIP Friday gathered that the schools and other business owners were emboldened to come out due to the heavy presence of machine gun-wielding security men moving around in convoys.
The Biafra Day celebration in Imo State grounded business activities, as banks, schools, markets, motor parks, and major streets were deserted.
The Imo State Police Command had urged the residents to disregard the IPOB order.
The IPOB order recorded 95 percent compliance as all markets, schools, motor parks, filling stations, and commercial banks were under Lock and key and deserted completely.
All the major roads, such as Owerri/Umuahia Road, Owerri/Onitsha Road, Owerri/Port Harcourt Road, and Owerri-Okigwe Road, were not left out as private and commercial vehicles deserted them.
However, in Aba, Abia State, gunmen attacked an Army checkpoint at Obikabia Junction, Aba, and killed two soldiers.
The attackers, said to have numbered over 15 and wearing face masks, set a standby army patrol van on fire before fleeing from the scene in two separate vehicles.
They attacked the checkpoint while enforcing the sit-at-home order by Biafran separatists to commemorate the May 30, 1967, declaration of the aborted republic.
LEADERSHIP Friday’s efforts in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, to confirm the report from either the army or the police public relations officers proved abortive at press time.
In its reaction via a WhatsApp message, the state police command, in a message by the public relations officer Moreen Chilaka, referred the press to her army counterpart for inquiries about the attack.
A source, who pleaded anonymity, said sporadic gunshots were heard as early as 5 am from different directions of the commercial nerve centre of the state, which forced most of the residents to remain indoors.
Meanwhile, while government offices, banks, schools, shops, and business premises were shut down in the capital, unrestrained vehicular traffic, especially tricycles and human traffic, was present.
Many people were stationed at different locations in the town, including restaurants, drinking joints, under tree sheds, or motor parks, discussing the order of other businesses.
There was also a minor slack in business activities along Eket Street and part of the adjoining Owerri Road, which has a high concentration of northerners as they sit beside their wares, discussing things in low tones.
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