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MASSOB’s sit-at-home flops •22 members arrested •Uwazuruike blames coordinators, insists it was successful By VAL OKARA, Owerri, MATTHIAS NWOGU, Umuahia, GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka and NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha Friday, August 29, 2008
Yesterday’s sit-at-home order declared by the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was marked by apathy in the South-Eastern states, considered to be the stronghold of the group.
Reports from the states indicated that business and commercial activities went on smoothly in Owerri, Imo State, Umuahia, Abia State, Awka, Anambra State as well as Enugu and Abakaliki, in Enugu and Ebonyi states respectively, while there was heavy security in the commercial cities of Onitsha and Aba, apparently to forestall possible breakdown of law and order.
Twenty two suspected members of the group were arrested by the police at Ihiala, Anambra State for allegedly trying to disrupt movement of the people. The MASSOB enthusiasts were said to have been picked up for allegedly blocking the roads and ordering people to return home.
However, MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike said contrary to claims that the exercise was a total flop, it was successful in Enugu, Anambra, Abia and Ebonyi States. While he admitted that the sit-at-home order failed in Imo state, he, however, blamed the coordinators for doing a shoddy job. In Owerri for example, commercial and other activities went on uninterrupted. Shops, schools, filling stations and markets opened for business, while commercial vehicles plied the roads undisturbed. Some residents who spoke with Daily Sun even claimed ignorance of the order. Rather than tag the sit-at-home a total failure, Uwazuruike told Daily Sun the aim had been achieved.
His words: “The stay-at-home was strictly observed in Anambra, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi, but it failed in Imo because the coordinators did not carry out the instructions properly. Although we did not achieve 100 per cent success, the aim has been achieved to an extent,” he concluded. Reports from Umuahia, Abia State capital and the commercial city of Aba revealed heavy presence of policemen, armoured tanks and patrol vehicles on the streets. Daily Sun also gathered that for fear of possible harassment, traders did not display their wares early in the day. But with the re-assuring presence of law enforcement agents, they opened their shops shortly after.
It was also gathered that those who had stayed away from the various markets later began to arrive when there was no sign of any harassment. Further investigations revealed that while government offices were opened with the officials at their normal duty posts, some banks asked their customers to come back from 12 noon. According to a security guard at one of the commercial banks in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, the reason for the delay in the opening of business was part of the security measures employed by the bank’s management to watch the development and avoid any ugly situation.
However, reports from Aba was different as most markets, including the popular Ariaria international market, Ekeoha shopping mall, and the New Market, among others, including commercial banks were locked, while the traders stayed away for most part of the day. Some of the traders, who spoke with the Daily Sun, said they were fed up with the activities of the MASSOB enthusiasts, whom they accused of causing unnecessary tension in the South-East geo-political zone.
Mr. Okereke Okoli, a trader at Umuahia main market, said he had to wait for several hours before he could decide to open his shop for business, because of the need to avoid any embarrassing situation or loss that might arise from non-compliance with the sit-at-home order. At the Railway Relief market in Umuahia, a dealer in fairly used dresses, Mrs. Ifeoma Anibeze, said she had to be in the market because that was her source of livelihood. Anibeze said she could not afford to stay at home just because MASSOB had so directed.
She further queried the rationale behind the operation of commercial vehicle operators who were doing their business unhindered, while the traders and government officials were directed to stay at home by MASSOB. Reports from Aba had it that the situation in the commercial city was understandable because Aba and Onitsha are strongholds of the MASSOB struggle.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2472 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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It is unfortunate that this peaceful protest was represented as a stay-at-home order, which connotes compulsion. The people have allegiance to MASSOB voluntarily and any alteration in this condition, either real or perceived, will not be helpful.
___________________ The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves... Posts: 678 | Registered: Nov 2004
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