"I know saboteurs will try to sabotage our efforts, but we're resolved to fight any aggressor that will come into this town," the senator says.
Ifeanyi Ubah, a Nigerian senator, has vowed to stop every Monday sit-at-home in Anambra South District, where he represents.
The sit-at-home is usually enforced by a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Mr Ubah, a member of the Young Progressives Party, disclosed this at the Ifeanyi Ubah International Stadium, Nnewi, Anambra State, on Sunday, when he addressed members of Anambra Vigilante Group and community security watch operatives from the four quarters of Nnewi.
A video clip which showed him making the statement has been circulating on social media.
The senator said the sit-at-home has had adverse effects on the commercial, economic, and well-being of South-east residents since the region began observing the civil action two years ago.
"We have found that we are losing our economic base and most importantly, we are losing jobs and business opportunities since the sit-at-home began.
"As a representative of the good people of Anambra South (District), Nnewi North, being the political capital of Anambra South, I deem it fit to say we will not continue to have sit-at-home on Mondays," he said while being flanked by members of the vigilante group.
Mr Ubah said Mondays are "serious days for business and economic activities," regretting that the sit-at-home had destroyed businesses in the South-east.
He pointed out that his community, Nnewi, used to be known as an industrial area, but the sit-at-home had dealt with the "once-industrial hub of Africa."
"I have procured a number of security gadgets and equipment such as CCTV cameras, patrol vans, motorcycles, walkie-talkies, wooden 'osisi agaga' from Nnewi evil forests and I am handing this equipment over to the vigilante operatives to help them in tackling any resultant security breach that may arise as we resolve to end this cankerworm called 'sit-at-home,"' the senator stated.
"From this Monday, every business area in Nnewi shall be open for business. We have our men; we have our system. I know saboteurs will try to sabotage our efforts, but we're resolved to fight any aggressor that will come into this town," Mr Ubah added.
"By Monday, July 3, we will embark on a show of force, it is our economy that is suffering. Anybody that does not open his shop on Monday, the community will lock his or her shop for six months."
Mr Ubah thus joins a string of leaders from the South-east who have called for an end to the sit-at-home. In neighbouring Enugu State, the governor has warned public officials to resume work on Mondays or risk being dismissed from office.
IPOB, in August 2021, introduced a sit-at-home order every Monday across the South-east to pressure the Nigerian government to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial for alleged terrorism.
The separatist group later suspended the order, in preference for it to be implemented only on days Mr Kanu appears in court.
But despite its suspension, residents of the five South-east states - Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Anambra -- have been observing the Monday sit-at-home order, mostly out of fear.
IPOB had repeatedly disowned the Monday sit-at-home across the region, saying those who still enforce the order were criminals attempting to blackmail the separatist group.
Simon Ekpa, a leader of Autopilot, a faction of the IPOB, has continued to declare the sit-at-home order in the region despite being suspended by the IPOB faction led by Mr Kanu.
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Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, hails from Ngbo, a community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, south-east Nigeria.
Ubah challenges factional IPOB leader
Meanwhile, Mr Ubah challenged Mr Ekpa, who resides in Finland, to return to Nigeria and "feel the pain" caused by the sit-at-home in the region if he wanted to be taken seriously.
"He (Ekpa) is from Ebonyi State, he should come home and feel the pain we are feeling. He has nationalised in Finland, where he is currently contesting for a councillorship seat, and he has the effrontery to dictate to us how to sit at home on Mondays here in Igbo land," he said.
"We will forgive Ekpa for the injuries he has inflicted on us so far, but if he continues, we will deal with him furiously. He should leave Anambra State alone. We are warning him to steer clear of Nnewi with his sit-at-home order forthwith."
