The lawmaker said this while reacting to the 5-day enforced sit-at-home order issued by Simon Ekpa, a self-proclaimed disciple of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
A former senator who represented Kaduna Central District in the 8th Assembly, Shehu Sani, has described the enforced sit-at-home order in the South-East region of Nigeria as a form of terror and tyranny.
The lawmaker said this while reacting to the 5-day enforced sit-at-home order issued by Simon Ekpa, a self-proclaimed disciple of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Sani said that while sit-at-home is a legitimate and peaceful means of dissent or civil protest, once it is enforced and becomes violent or obeyed due to fear of victimisation by the enforcers of the order, it becomes another form of terror.
He described sit-at-home as a "peaceful and legitimate means of dissent or civil protest; but once it’s enforced by force, violence or threats, and complied with out of fear, it has become another form of terror and tyranny.”
IPOB first declared sit-at-home in 2021 after its leader, Kanu was arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria for continued trial for treasonable felony and terrorism charges against him by the Nigerian government.
The sit-at-home order was meant to hold every Monday across the South-East till Kanu was released from detention by the secret police, Department of State Services (DSS).
However, following public criticism of the order with emphasis on its debilitating effects on the region’s economy, IPOB cancelled the order but maintained that it would only be observed on any day Kanu would appear in court for trial.
But the sit-at-home order, from the outset, has always been brutal and bloody as armed hoodlums consistently hijack the enforcement of the order and use the opportunity to exploit, rob, attack and kill people and destroy property.
Meanwhile, IPOB has repeatedly distanced itself from the attacks and killings associated with the sit-at-home exercise, alleging that Ekpa was paid by the Nigerian government to sabotage the order to blackmail the separatist group.
A few days ago, Ekpa declared a 5-day sit-at-home across the South-East from December 9-13 and warned that whoever fails to obey the order would be dealt with, but IPOB dissociated itself from the order and asked members of the public to ignore it and go about their normal business.
Unfortunately, from Friday which was the first day of the order, the South-East has been bloody as gunmen allegedly enforcing the sit-at-home order have been attacking and killing people, especially in Imo and Enugu states where many people including Prince Iheme, the elder brother to the Nollywood superstar, Osita Iheme, have been killed with cars and markets burnt down.