By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
Angered by Anambra State governor’s threat on workers to be ready to forfit their salaries for joining monday sit-at -home order by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the group has taken a swipe on Governor, Chukwuma Soludo for threatening to withold the salary of any civil servant that fails to report to work on Mondays.<\/p>\n
The group in a statement by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful on Sunday described the Governor\u2019s statement as an intimidation of the citizens who chose to remain indoors on Mondays as a symbolic act of solidarity with its leader, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who it noted, is being unlawfully detained by enemies of the Igbo race and the Biafra restoration project which he leads. <\/p>\n
The statement reads in part, “Let it be stated clearly and without ambiguity: Anambra is not a military barracks. The people are not tenants in their own land. No Governor has the lawful power to compel free citizens to open their businesses or move about against their will, especially when their action is a peaceful, non-violent expression of conscience.<\/p>\n
“Monday sit-at-home is civil Disobedience -Not Terrorism. Governor Soludo, as a man who parades the title \u201cProfessor,\u201d should be the first to recognise the elementary democratic principle called civil disobedience\u2014a peaceful refusal to cooperate with policies and conditions viewed as unjust.<\/p>\n
“If businessmen, traders, students, professionals, elders and youths voluntarily choose to sit at home on Mondays as a silent protest against the continued detention and persecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, that is their right. It is not a crime. It is not rebellion. It is not an offence.<\/p>\n
“A government that turns peaceful protest into punishable misconduct is simply declaring war on the people\u2019s dignity.”<\/p>\n
On the sub head, The GOVERNOR SHOULD STOP FIGHTING HIS OWN PEOPLE TO IMPRESS ABUJA, IPOB urged Governor Soludo not to pretend that he does not understand what is happening, saying that Nobody is deceived.<\/p>\n
It added, “The frustration in Igboland is deep. The anger is justified. The pain is historic. And the Monday sit-at-home is a token expression of that collective burden.<\/p>\n
“But instead of confronting the injustice that fuels agitation, the Governor has chosen the weak and disgraceful route of harassing his own people\u2014to be seen as \u201cloyal\u201d by Abuja power brokers who have shown nothing but contempt for Igbo lives and Igbo dignity.<\/p>\n
“When criminal violence is tolerated elsewhere, and killers are pampered, negotiated with, and incentivised under \u201crehabilitation,\u201d it is a tragedy that an Igbo governor would devote his energy to threatening traders, punishing youths, and blackmailing citizens for choosing to stay in their homes peacefully.”<\/p>\n
While stressing that any Taskforce against the people will be illegal provocation, the group warned that if the governor in his desperation for applause, proceeds to establish any task force, enforcement squad, or vigilante-style unit to coerce citizens into opening shops through threats, extortion, harassment, arrests, or intimidation, then he has crossed a red line.<\/p>\n
It stated, “That will not be governance. That will be provocation. That will be oppression.
\nAnd the people will treat it for what it is: an open declaration of hostility against the spirit of Biafra and the collective resolve of Nd\u1ecb Igbo.<\/p>\n
NO ONE FORCES ANYONE TO SIT AT HOME \u2014 AND NO ONE WILL FORCE THEM TO LEAVE
\n“Let us be clear for the record: We do not force people to sit at home. But no government will force them to go out.<\/p>\n
“The sit-at-home is voluntary. It is a choice. It is a personal and collective statement of solidarity. People who stay home on Mondays do so because they believe sacrifice is part of the struggle for justice and freedom.<\/p>\n
“This is Igboland. We have honour. We have dignity. We understand history. We understand what oppression looks like. We understand what freedom costs.”<\/p>\n
IPOB further called on Soludo to deliver governance , not threats, saying that his focus should be on the mandate he begged for: security, infrastructure, jobs, and development. <\/p>\n
“If he truly believes in the \u201cDubai\u201d rhetoric he sold to Anambra people, then he should deliver it through competence, not coercion.<\/p>\n
“A governor who fights traders for protesting injustice is not building Dubai.
\nHe is building resentment.
\nHe is planting division.
\nHe is igniting a fire he cannot control.<\/p>\n
“The solution remains somple, Free Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The Governor knows the truth he is avoiding: The solution is not threats. The solution is justice.The solution is the release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is the symbol of our freedom and hope.<\/p>\n
“Until that injustice is addressed, every Monday will remain a day of silent protest. Not by decree. Not by violence. But by conscience.”<\/p>\n
IPOB further advised Soludo to, in his own interest stop threatening Ndi Anambra and Ndi Igbo, saying that the people are not his enemies.<\/p>\n
According to the group, the Governor ‘s duty is to protect the civol servants, not punish them. To lead them, not provoke them. To serve them, not subjugate them.<\/p>\n
It advised Soludo not to start what he cannot finish, saying that history has never been kind to leaders who attack their own people to impress external masters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent Angered by Anambra State governor’s threat on workers to be ready to forfit their salaries for joining monday sit-at -home order by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the group has taken a swipe on Governor, Chukwuma Soludo for threatening to withold the salary of any civil servant that fails to report to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4607,1783,5213,5994,2016],"class_list":["post-10558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-action","tag-conscience","tag-expression","tag-non-violent","tag-peaceful"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10559,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10558\/revisions\/10559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}