Onitsha residents in Anambra on Wednesday went about their normal activities in defiance of a two-week sit-at-home order by Simon Ekpa, a factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Finland-based Mr Ekpa, purported IPOB prime minister, had in a video message, ordered all residents of the South-East to stay home for two weeks as a protest to push for the release of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Rather than obey the order, the people went about their normal businesses across the commercial city.

Agnes Igwe, a trader at Ochanja market, said the usual Monday sit-at-home protest had done more harm than good.

“Some of these traders engage in daily contributions to meet up with their savings. If they sit at home for two weeks, what will be their hope? Nobody is talking about the two-week sit-at-home again,” Ms Igwe explained. “The people are trying to recover from their losses from staying indoors every Monday.”

A commercial tricycle rider, Samuel Anyaorah, who plies the Old road to Nkpor junction, said there was no way people would continue in hardship for two weeks in the name of obeying an order from a man in a foreign land.

“For how long are we going to continue like this? To survive even when hustling on a daily basis is hard, let alone when you now sit at home; how will someone survive this current hardship occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal?” stated Mr Anyaorah.

He added, “We are suffering here. He is enjoying himself in Finland. If he’s serious about it, he should come and join us.”

A petty trader, Isioma Ogochukwu, said she depends on what she earns daily to survive, and it would be suicidal for her to stay at home for two weeks as ordered by Mr Ekpa. 

(NAN)