Ejiofor insisted that the widely cited Monday sit-at-home order no longer exists and lacks any legal or moral basis.
Counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has faulted the decision of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s administration to shut down the Onitsha Main Market in Anambra State over the traders’ continued observance of the Monday sit-at-home order.
Ejiofor insisted that the widely cited Monday sit-at-home order no longer exists and lacks any legal or moral basis.
In a statement issued on Tuesday titled “On the Closure of the Onitsha Main Market by the Anambra State Government,” Ejiofor said his stance on the sit-at-home directive had been “clear, consistent and a matter of public record” from the outset.
The lawyer stressed that the order was “formally, expressly and unequivocally” cancelled by the IPOB.
According to him, the cancellation was categorical and left no room for ambiguity, noting that from that point, the directive ceased to exist “in law, in logic, and in moral persuasion.”
Ejiofor argued that the violence and coercion currently associated with Mondays in parts of the South-East are not rooted in any IPOB policy.
Instead, he described them as criminal acts carried out by lawless elements allegedly led by Simon Ekpa, whom he accused of exploiting fear, intimidation and extortion to enforce a directive that no longer exists.
“What followed was not civil disobedience, not political protest, and certainly not ideological resistance,” he said, adding that the acts amount to a “criminal resurrection of a dead directive.”
He further maintained that the continued enforcement of the sit-at-home through threats and violence has no ideological foundation, legal standing or moral authority, describing it as a parasitic enterprise feeding on terror and bloodshed.
Against this backdrop, Ejiofor questioned the rationale behind the closure of the Onitsha Main Market.
The lawyer warned that collective punishment of traders and law-abiding citizens could not be justified as a security measure.
“Collective punishment of traders and law-abiding citizens, who are themselves hostages of fear, cannot, and must not, masquerade as security policy. It is neither strategic nor just,” he said.
The lawyer urged the government to adopt a more targeted, intelligence-driven approach to security, focusing on the actual perpetrators of violence rather than shutting down major economic centres.
“To shutter an entire economic nerve centre in response to criminal threats is to punish productivity while emboldening lawlessness,” he added.
Ejiofor reiterated his position that the Monday sit-at-home has no legitimacy and commands no authority whatsoever.
He insisted that any policy response must clearly distinguish between criminality and legitimate commerce to avoid further harming innocent citizens.
He stated, “Security governance, if it is to deserve the name, must be precise, intelligence-driven, and squarely targeted at the actual architects and executors of violence.
“To shutter an entire economic nerve centre in response to criminal threats is to punish productivity while emboldening lawlessness.
“Any response that collapses the distinction between criminality and commerce risks achieving the perverse: legitimising the tactics of violent actors while penalising innocent enterprise.
“My position, therefore, remains firmly and irrevocably unchanged: The Monday sit-at-home enjoys no legitimacy, commands no authority, and possesses no justification whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise.”