There is palpable anxiety in the South East states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo over safety of lives and property after the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) called for a sit-at-home protest across the region today – Monday, February 2, 2026.
The group branded it Biafra-wide lockdown in solidarity Onitsha traders in the aftermath of the closure of the city’s main market for one week by Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The planned sit-at-home is also meant to press for the release of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, from prison.
In a swift reaction to the IPOB statement, lead counsel for the group, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, asked South-East residents to completely ignore the directive.
He described it as fake and fraudulent.
Governor Soludo, last Monday, ordered the market shut for one week following the traders’ continued compliance with the IPOB’s sit-at-home directive.
He expressed disappointment that the traders chose to obey “the long-standing, fear-enforced Monday sit-at-home order; a ghostly mandate from non-State actors that has strangled businesses and normalised weekly Monday sit-at-home for years.”
He described his closure order as the latest and perhaps most drastic approach to determine who controls time and economic life in South East Nigeria on Mondays.
Soludo said government would not stand by while a few individuals willfully undermined public safety and disregarded official directives meant to restore normalcy.
He said if the market fails to reopen for business after the one-week shutdown, it would be sealed for a month.
On Friday, the governor, accompanied by some of his commissioners, undertook another visit to the market to map out areas for remodeling in the complex.
The market, according to him, has lost much of its functionality owning to years of unplanned development and the crippling effects of the Monday sit-at-home.
“The Onitsha Main Market, in its current state, is no longer functional. We have done the study. The main market is no longer what it was designed to be. It has literally died,” he said.
Soludo recalled that in the late 1970s, the market operated with wide streets, organised stalls and ample parking space, allowing smooth movement of trucks and shoppers—conditions he said no longer exist.
He said persistent adherence to the Monday sit-at-home order has “further worsened the situation with billions of naira lost weekly and customers diverted to neighbouring states.”
“Leadership requires taking inconvenient steps to secure the future. The closure of the market is a corrective measure to reclaim the State’s economic life,” he said.
“This remodeling aligns with our manifesto to build planned and sustainable markets, communities and cities. Leadership beckons us to take these difficult but necessary steps.”
He told the traders that he would be back there today (Monday) to supervise resumption of business.
Chairman of the Onitsha Main Market, Chief Chijioke Okpalaugo, said the traders are in tune with the government’s vision, but appealed for a brief grace period to secure their goods.
“After careful consideration of the proposals presented by the state government, we, the leadership and traders of Onitsha Main Market, have chosen Option 2 (remodeling and stop sit-at-home) as the preferred path forward,” he said.
However, IPOB did not take kindly to the governor’s action in shutting the market.
It said the market closure amounted to economic strangulation of the Igbo and called for a “Biafra-wide solidarity strike” today (Monday).
It said: “This total shutdown is a direct, peaceful and unified response to the tyrannical actions of Governor Soludo, who shut down the Onitsha Main Market and threatened further closures, demolitions and revocation of land ownership.
“Soludo’s war on Onitsha traders is a war on all Biafrans. Touch one, touch all.”
It asked traders, public transport operators, banks, schools, civil servants and residents across the region to observe the peaceful “solidarity lockdown.”
The group said the sit-at-home was a voluntary act of civil disobedience and warned that Soludo’s actions could provoke wider resistance.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Police Command has declared its readiness to maintain law and order following the latest statement by IPOB.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the initial stage of the security crisis involved attacks on security operatives and destruction of government facilities by criminal elements seeking to instill fear in residents.
The police said: “The State government, in collaboration with Ndi Anambra, has now resolved to correct harmful practices arising from the security situation, including the illegal sit-at-home and closure of markets on Mondays.”
The police assured residents of their safety and their property, adding: “Security agencies are not the enemy but those who seek to inflict suffering and hardship on the people.”
Also, members of the State security outfit, Agunechemba, have vowed to storm the Main Market to protect the lives and property of the citizenry.
The leader of the Agunechemba outfit in the State, Prince Ken Emeakayi, said the group would not allow anyone or group to invade Anambra again, declaring: “We are battle ready!”