Onitsha traders vow end to sit-at-home, resume Monday

Traders at the Onitsha Main Market and other markets across the state have pledged to effectively end the Monday sit-at-home, and have declared readiness to resume full activities on Monday in line with the directive of the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

They gave the assurance on Thursday during an interactive session with the governor following the closure of the Onitsha Main Market and the prolonged Monday sit-at-home that has crippled commercial and economic activities in the South-East.

Speaking to journalists shortly after their meeting, the Chairman of Onitsha Main Market, Chijioke Okpalugo, said traders are prepared to commence Monday operations in support of the governor’s vision of a “One Anambra,” but appealed for enhanced security to guarantee the safety of lives and property.

Okpalugo, on behalf of the market leaders, requested a visible and sustained security presence in markets, full operation of motor parks to facilitate the movement of buyers and goods, and decisive action against individuals who benefit from or enforce the sit-at-home order.

He said, “Our governor is a listening and progressive-minded governor. We strongly believe that, with this appeal, he will consider us and reopen the market for our good because he loves his people.

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“We have resolved to be opening for full activities on Monday. We have lost so much fortunes since the creation of the Monday sit-at-home in the south-east region. We are fully in support of the governor’s action against the Monday sit-at-home order.”

In his remarks, Soludo declared that all markets and shops in Anambra State must remain open every working day, including Mondays, stressing that the era of sit-at-home-induced market closures was over.

The governor assured traders of an overhaul of the state’s security architecture around markets, pledging that Anambra’s commercial centres would be protected from harassment and intimidation.

He presented a “renovate or rebuild” option for the market, offering either a complete redevelopment into a modern trading hub or a comprehensive overhaul of existing structures.

“Igboland and Anambra will move forward. Business activities must continue irrespective of the option chosen. The enforcement of the sit-at-home is a criminal enterprise that is no longer connected to the agitation for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, dismissing claims that the order was linked to the detained IPOB leader.

“It is not linked to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He does not support the sit-at-home. If it doesn’t happen in Umuahia, his hometown, why Onitsha and Nnewi?” the governor asked.

He further alleged that many of those enforcing the sit-at-home were not indigenes of Anambra State and warned that the government would deploy extreme measures if defiance persisted.