The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have issued a sit-at-home order for next Monday, and Enugu Governor Peter Mbah has threatened to revoke the licenses of any business owners who adhere to the order.
Mbah made this statement while touring several areas of the state capital on Monday to check on how well the order he issued was being followed.
The governor forewarned that store owners who remained at home as of Monday, July 24, risked losing their businesses to shrewd businesspeople.
He added that since the sit-at-home ban in June, there had been no incidents of attack and that enough security had been deployed in the regions.
The governor warned that locking shops on Mondays would no longer be condoned.
“But you know, there are also consequences for not heeding our orders. Going forward, I want to put you on notice.”
“I will go around again on Monday next week. We are going to come with the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority to put a seal on any shop that is found locked on Monday because of the illegal sit-at-home order.
“We will take it that you are not ready to do business. We are going to revoke your license. We will revoke your shop title and reallocate it to someone else who is ready to do business. This is something we must enforce with effect from Monday next week,” he warned.
Mbah, who took time to interact with business owners, shoppers, traders as well as civil servants at the State Secretariat, said “it should never be heard that we were cowed because of the threat of violence by these criminals.
“The poverty that will befall us for sitting at home will kill us even faster. We are losing over N10 billion every Monday that we sit at home. Enough is enough. This foolishness must end and it must end now. We cannot be marginalising ourselves and still complain of marginalisation.
“So, we must say no to sit-at-home because what it means is that we are destroying our employment, our economy, and our GDP.”
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