He spoke as the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, promised yesterday that the state police command will continue to provide security in Anambra for people who want to go about their businesses without obstruction, emphasizing that the police have no business with people who prefer to stay home when they should be working.
Even if Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi called South East insecurity "criminal activity" in the February 25 election.
The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra have denied involvement in the crimes, he claimed. Lagbaja's injunction followed Finland-based pro-Biafra agitator Simon Ekpa's call for a two-week sit-at-home protest on July 31.

Ekpa said the protest's goal was to demand the immediate and unconditional release of IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and help the Biafran country achieve freedom. Therefore, the pro-Biafra agitator warned of dire penalties for defying the sit-at-home order.

However, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations, called Ekpa's announcement illegal and unwelcome. Nwachukwu said the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies have been ordered to undertake rigorous patrols, protect flashpoints, and allow civilians to freely carry out their legitimate activities. “IPOB's renewed threat to force southeast Nigerians to stay home is appalling, unlawful, and a violation of their fundamental rights. "Nwachukwu will never tolerate this."

“The Chief of Army Staff has given clear directives to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army operating in collaboration with other security agencies to ensure effective patrols to control all flashpoints and emplace mechanisms to ensure citizens are free to go about their legitimate businesses.” The army spokesperson urged South-East Nigerians to ignore the sit-at-home order and support the security forces against IPOB.

“We implore the good and enterprising people of the South-East to shun all forms of cajoling or threats aimed at unlawfully forcing them to sit at home. They should work with security forces to stop IPOB's lawlessness. The police will also fight the sit-at-home order in the South-East. He said that IPOB commander Ekpa lives in Finland and orders Nigerians from there, something the army deems intolerable. The Nigeria Police Force has also pledged to oppose the South-East sit-at-home directive.

Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force spokesperson, said the police arrested and seized guns from non-state actors enforcing the order. Adejobi encouraged South-East residents to continue their lawful activities and assured them of necessary protection.

Simon Ekpa, a self-proclaimed Biafra activist, announced a two-week South East shutdown on July 31, 2023. Adeoye told reporters at the state police headquarters that working four days a week but getting paid for five is bad.

"Law enforcement considers sitting at home illegal," he stated. A court-declared illegal organization made the sit-at-home declaration.Security agencies must protect the public as best they can. But folks can choose to stay home. Since he has freedom of choice, we cannot force someone out of their home. Some support the Biafra-inspired sit-at-home despite security forces. “Four-day workers consider Mondays a holiday. As long as we can safeguard business people, we have no business with homebodies.”

Adeoye promised that criminals would flock to Anambra under his watch and that the command would work with other South East states to safeguard the region. “Also disturbing is the continual halt of business and social activities in the South East region over the Sit-at-Home directive purportedly coming from the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, when the body has publicly denied issuing such directive.

“What is going on in the South East therefore amounts to a criminal activity that must be nipped in the bud, with all hands being on deck, security agencies, and the people alike,” Obi tweeted on Thursday.

He praised regional governors but advised them to be more strategic and intelligence-driven. He said, “The South East Governors are to be commended for their renewed efforts at curbing this menace but we need to be more strategic and intelligence-driven in our approach to reducing the suffering of innocent people.

“Security agencies must act quickly to stop the ugly incidents because the nation cannot continue to shed innocent blood. Our governments should show more respect for human life in how they handle life-threatening crises. No investor will invest in an insecure environment, therefore its effects on development are far-reaching.

Therefore, I urge crucial stakeholders in these areas—traditional, Christian, and Muslim leaders—to continue promoting peace among their people through their actions.Because stomach infrastructure is the best method to fight insecurity, all governments should also address poverty and youth unemployment. “Also, urgent steps should be taken consciously and intentionally to alleviate people's hardship.”

Simon Ekpa tweeted that Peter Obi has become the separatist group's spokesperson after his statement on the sit-at-home directive in the south-east.
He tweeted: If you come to Biafra soil to kill Biafrans, I swear you will die there. BLA will defeat you. Python must die is triggered. Terrorists @HQNigerianArmy going to Biafra should write their wills before leaving.”

Yesterday, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma advised South-East residents to follow IPOB's sit-at-home directive to avert death. The governor denied knowing about Asari Dokubo's "men" operating in Imo State to keep calm, as he recently claimed. As international affairs is under the exclusive list, the Federal Government will handle the matter of self-styled Biafran Prime Minister Simon Ekpa, who stays in Finland to enforce stay-at-home order in the South-East. After meeting privately with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Senator Uzodimma stated. Uzodinma claimed that IPOB, as non-state actors, had no jurisdiction to give the order, yet people remain away due to the quantity of killing in the area. His words: “The South-East situation is not as simple as some people think. Local, state, and zone governments have no sit-at-home directive. “But because of the indiscriminate killing of people and high level of insecurity, our people are so afraid to come out, not only because there’s any sit at home. We're managing perceptions. People are too afraid. How may non-state actors order a sit-at-home? Scared people. Fear comes from past experiences. None of us want to die.

Thus, the federal government intervenes to tighten security. Citizens will feel safe again and be able to work.” "My visit has to do with the country's security," the governor remarked during his villa visit. If you recall, we had a meeting of southeast political and non-political leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo leaders a few days ago, and one of the resolutions was to visit Mr. President to support and intervene in our resolve to address insecurities. You know that the southeastern area of the country has been plagued by banditry, kidnapping, and mystery gunmen. “In most of the states, five in the Southeastern part of the country, a lot of resources have been expended, community efforts have been invested, yet the problems seem not to be abetting.

“So, the leadership in the zone met and agreed that working with the forum of southeast governors, we come to Mr. President to formally request his intervention and additional support from the federal government to ensure peace in the southeast.

Southeasters support national unity. And that’s a vital aspect of the Nigerian project also needs serious attention in terms of security for our people to go about their businesses.”

Also Read: IPOB Backs Enugu Governor To End Monday Sit-At-Home

The governor said he was unaware of the former Niger Delta militant's assertion that his "men" were operating in Imo State and other states. He continued, “I don’t know whether his men are Nigerian army police officers. I can't answer because I don't know Asari Dokubo's guys. Can you identify his men? Who are his men?
Fielding asked if Southeast leaders are considering diplomatic alternatives to follow up on Simon Ekpa's stay-at-home order in Finland: "So you can see again that diplomacy and the foreign policy programmes are also in the exclusive list." We're also concerned about regional insecurity and outsiders' contributions.

“The Federal Government is the only platform that can dress foreign and local content contribution to this problem.”
A Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed Nnamdi Kanu's fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Department of State Services Wednesday. Kanu's suit was dismissed by Justice James Omotosho.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Kanu's lawyer filed a complaint marked FHC/ABJ/CS/482/2022 against the Director General of DSS, DSS, and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The IPOB leader sued the DSS for inhumane treatment, including refusing him the ability to wear Igbo traditional "Isi-Agu" while in their institution or in court for his trial. He claimed that while the security outfit let other detainees to wear any attire, he was limited to one. The applicant accused the DSS of torture, violating his dignity, and other rights.
Thus, he sought an order directing the respondents to let him wear any attire in the facility or in public, among other reliefs.

The DSS and its DG urged the court to reject Kanu's claim in a rebuttal affidavit. Their agents denied torturing Kanu mentally or physically. The DSS holds Kanu at its facility with other suspects. They denied that additional suspects might wear Hausa and Yoruba clothes. They stated the location was not a recreational center or traditional festival where Kanu and other suspects may wear their traditional clothes. They said their facilities have a dress code SOP.

DSS claims the applicant's criminal trial is about the non-existent Biafra Republic, which the garments represent. They argued the chieftaincy-style Isi-Agu outfit was inappropriate for detainees and against SOP. They further stated that Justice Binta Nyako, where Kanu is on trial, had ordered that he might wear any simple apparel he wanted. The DSS denied violating the IPOB leader's human dignity. Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees human dignity, Justice Omotosho said.
He stated that human dignity is linked to the right against torture and inhumane treatment. According to the court's evidence, Kanu was never tortured in detention. He argued a prisoner's dignity did not include changing clothing.
“The applicant cannot come to court to seek rights not in the constitution,” he remarked.

Justice Omotosho also found that Kanu failed to give photos and names of detainees allowed to wear various clothes in jail. The applicant relied on simple facts without evidence, but he had to substantiate his case. He called the IPOB leader’s claims “a hypothesis without concrete evidence.”Thus, the judge ruled the case unmeritorious.

In related news, traditional rulers throughout Enugu State have praised the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, for his commendable security efforts since taking office and pledged their support for community policing in their areas.

On Wednesday in the House of Chief chamber at the Enugu State House of Assembly Complex, the royal fathers encouraged the governor to be more merciless in pursuing kidnappers and sit-at-home order enforcers, saying such aberrations were unknown to the Igbo people.

At the governor's interactive session, the traditional institution ordered Mbah to deploy joint security operatives around the state's communities to bolster their subjects' trust so they could go about their business.
They regretted that the illegal Monday sit-at-home order being imposed by criminal elements to terrorize innocent locals did not represent Igbo culture.
The traditional rulers assured the governor that they were ready to lead their communities as chief security officers and support any stringent measures his government deemed necessary to secure the state and make it the southeast zone's investment and industrial hub.

Igwe Simon Osisi Itodo, RSN Eze, Lawrence Agubuzu, Godwin Madu, Julius Nnaji, and Greg Ugwu were among the traditional rulers who addressed on behalf of their senatorial districts.

They urged the governor to keep up the pace after he quickly responded to kidnappings and other security breaches in the state, notably along the Nike-Ugwogo-Nsukka road.