Disrupting The Sit-At-Home Regime

By Chris Nwokobia

I have followed the politics of the South East with unhindered interest since I was a Law Undergraduate student at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus UNEC, some 30 years ago. I saw a sizable part of my Teenage years in the land of Hills and Valleys, Enugu. I am an adopted son of the Asogwas and the Ugwuada-Ezirigwes of the Nsukka axis of Enugu State, and I love the State of my Youth, interestingly it was during my days in the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus that I met a beautiful Student and classmate who became my wife and the mother of my kids. So Enugu is dear to my heart.

A few days ago a new helmsman took charge at the Lion Building in Enugu as Governor, his name is Barrister Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, a Lawyer and an accomplished Businessman. What strikes a huge cord in me about the new watchman is not just his sense of urgency and humility BUT his readiness to disrupt old values, biases and myths, and like a man possessed with a deep sense of responsibility and purpose he has called out Ndigbo to think differently and to do things differently.

In June 2021 the Indigenous People Of Biafra IPOB announced a Monday Sit-At-Home Regime that was to commence across the South East in August of that year until Nnamdi Kanu’s release from custody. Almost two years after, Nnamdi Kanu is still in custody and the South East suffers the loss of her Mondays, businesses atrophy, man hours lost, schools and markets are closed and fear pervades the entire region. To whose gain, you may wonder.

The Sit-At-Home Regime has done incalculable damage to business in the South East, it has hurt the region more than anything else since the Civil War, and we cannot continue to cut our nose to spite our faces. We must do things differently, that’s what Barrister Peter Mbah the new Governor of Enugu State is saying. He is not daring IPOB or spoiling for war with IPOB by declaring an end to Sit-At-Home in Enugu State, he is only calling out Ndigbo to an entirely new thinking, to devise a new strategy for the development of the South East, and for a new approach to the call for justice for Ndigbo, and for freedom for Nnamdi Kanu.

Peter Mbah is simply calling out for an end to months of fear and apprehension, and pushing for a new era of faith and progress in Igboland. He is saying to the other Governors of the South East States of Imo, Anambra, Abia and Ebonyi, now is the time to do things differently, now is the time to reach out to all interests in the region, and now is the time to return the region to full activity starting with the capital of the old Eastern Region, Enugu. He says that Ndigbo as entrepreneurs and reputable owners of business cannot afford further lockdowns, and that our Mondays are too expensive to be shut down.

He is calling out Ndigbo to re-strategize and reappraise the cost of the actions we have taken thus far ditto our quest for justice, equity and fairness. He is asking ‘onye aju ona aju onwe’ya’? He is challenging the entire South East to resume work on Mondays, and he is calling out Ndigbo to massively concentrate on the development of the region. He is saying that an organized approach to the call for justice by Ndigbo is of greater profit than shutting down the entrepreneurial space. And he has volunteered to lead by example.

The age of fear and unreason must therefore be replaced by faith and reason. We must organize rather than agonize. And we must support the new helmsman in the Lion Building, in Enugu on the pathway to sustainable growth, peace and prosperity in the South East, such is the way to go.

I wish Ndigbo well, I wish Ndi’Enugu well, and I wish the ebullient Governor of Enugu State the best as he navigates the waters of Igbo solidarity for progress and greatness.

Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia, Jnr, is the convener, COUNTRYFIRST MOVT