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The Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, led by the Secretary to the State Government Enugu State, (SSG), Chidiebere Onyia, sealed the premises of two commercial banks, and 107 shops across the coal city for complying with the Sit-At-Home order of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Enugu.
The sit-at-home is usually enforced by a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Enugu and other South-east states.
In the video clip, Mr Onyia, a professor, told reporters that the governor issued the order to seal the shops and banks to stop residents’ compliance to the sit-at-home order and to demonstrate the seriousness of the government to the ban placed on the illegal order in the state.
The SSG said many traders showed up in some markets visited by the officials.
“It is not a punitive but ownership culture, where all of us (should) come together to fight the menace of illegal sit-at-home,” he said.
“We are taking it up not because Mbah is in the business of stopping economic growth but to fight those that think they can intimidate us.
“We have been to ShopRite, Celebrity- a shopping mall – SPAR, (a supermarket) and others. We saw shops that were not open, and we sealed them,” Mr Onyia stated.
Also speaking, Gideon Onyia, the head of the state development agency, said 78 shops were sealed at Ogbete Main Market, while two unnamed commercial banks were also sealed.
He added that five shops at the SPAR and 24 shops at the Old Artisan Market in the state were equally sealed by the agency.
“So, if you failed to obey our rules and directives (of opening on Mondays), we can revoke them or withdraw your approvals and give them to people eager to do business in the state.
“Those whose shops are sealed, we will tell them the penalty, but the governor was magnanimous by saying that the exercise was not punitive,” he said.
