Police personnel were on Monday deployed to banks and public buildings to forestall possible breakdown of peace as the sit-at-home home ordered by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB persists in Imo.
This is despite the plea by Governor Hope Uzodimma to residents to go about their businesses without any fear.
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The group had also denied reports that it ordered a 3-day sit-at-home to celebrate the anniversary of the EndSARS protest, saying that it only ordered sit-at-home on Thursday when their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, would appear in court
Police patrol teams were stationed in some of the banks that opened for business in Owerri, the state capital.
However, schools and other commercial centres remained shut as residents also stayed at home.
The streets were virtually empty as only a few motorists operated in the metropolis.
Police were present at strategic points, checking vehicles that dared to come out.
Along the popular Akwakuma – Orlu road, some anti-riot policemen mounted a roadblock in front of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri and Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education.
Though the gates of the two institutions were firmly locked, few people were allowed in by the gatekeepers.
IPOB had declared the weekly sit-at-home to press home their demand for the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is being prosecuted by the federal government on terrorism-related charges.
Kanu’s trial is billed to come up on Thursday at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
