By Ihuoma Chiedozie

Enugu, South-East Nigeria, Monday, January 9, 2023. It is the first working day of the week. Usually a busy day, especially for office workers. Normally, the roads would be bustling with vehicular and human traffic as residents went about their businesses. But by noon the roads are largely deserted. Only a few vehicles and tricycles (Keke) passed through the empty streets and major roads in Enugu metropolis.

Shops, schools, offices are closed. Residents are indoors.

Just a few people are out on the streets. Most of those who ventured out of their homes are dressed in sports wears – shorts, tracksuits, sneakers. The empty streets are ideal for jogging, walks and other forms of physical exercise.An empty road in Enugu during the Monday, January 9 sit-at-home exercise: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR

It was like an extension of Sunday – a day when most offices, shops and markets remain closed as the predominantly Christian population of the South-East attend church services. But unlike Sundays, which are usually marked by a laid-back, easy feeling, there was tension in the air on this Monday, January 9.

The fitness buffs who were working out on the streets were watchful, ready to run for their lives at the slightest hint of trouble. Petty traders who opened for business, particularly sellers of okpa, a local delicacy, were wary. Those who ventured outside their homes know they are taking a major risk.

*It is Monday. Sit-at-home day in the South-East

It was the same scenario in other major cities and towns across the five states of the South-East – Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo. Originally, the sit-at-home exercise was restricted to May 30, a day Biafra activists remember those who died in the Civil War.

Mondays were eventually declared as a day for sit-at-home protest across the South-East after the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the proscribed pro-Biafra group which is sharing control of the zone with the state governments.

The sit-at-home was also extended to days Kanu appear in court for proceedings in terrorism and treason charges filed against him by the Federal Government. With time, enforcement of the sit-at-home turned it into a bloody affair – residents who venture out of their homes or engage in business or social activities on the day risk losing lives and property.

Although Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesperson, has announced that the sit-at-home had been suspended, the exercise is still in force through orders issued by Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based self described Kanu disciple and ‘IPOB spokesperson’, reputed to be the leader of the ‘IPOB Autopilots’ who appear to have taken charge of the group since Kanu’s arrest.

The ICIR’s reporter, who moved around Enugu to monitor the sit-at-home on January 9, observed that although a few intra-city buses and Keke were available to convey passengers to destinations within the metropolis, there were no vehicles to transport residents to far locations within and outside the state.

At the Holy Ghost area, the major transportation hub in Enugu metropolis, none of the inter-state transport operators opened for business. Some prospective travellers, who hoped to travel outside the state, were frustrated. No vehicle was available to convey them to their destinations. It was the same situation in Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Anambra. The entire South-East was literally on lockdown.

Dateline: Finland. Monday, January 9, 2023. 11:24 am. In far away Finland, Simon Ekpa posted a video from the ongoing sit-at-home in southeastern Nigeria on Twitter via his handle @simon_ekpa.

The video, posted under the caption ‘Those preparing to force Biafrans into validating a terrorist state in February 2023, this is what await you’, showed empty shops and stalls at one of the major markets in the South-East. The video appeared to have been shot that same day and was posted to illustrate the ‘success’ of the January 9 sit-at-home exercise. A voice which ran a commentary in the video described the day’s sit-at-home as “very tight, very solid, and awesome”.

*‘No election in South-East’

There will be no election in the South-East, the voice in the video stressed, warning residents of the region not to come out during the election period, to avoid being killed by the “military”. The killings in the South-East have been blamed on ‘unknown gunmen’, who the security agencies say are members of IPOB and its military wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). But the voice in the video claimed that the security agencies of the Nigerian government are behind the killings.

killings.

Those preparing to force Biafrans into validating a terrorist state in February 2023, this is what await you pic.twitter.com/pbsOsVZQeP

— Simon Ekpa (@simon_ekpa) January 9, 2023

The voice in the video said: “Let everyone be notified, as you have been notified before, let no one come out. There’s no election in Biafraland (South-East). Don’t come out and don’t be killed by the military. Because if you come out they will kill you too. So don’t come out. There’s no election in Biafraland. Thank you for sitting at home.”

In an earlier Twitter post at 10:36 am, on the same day, Ekpa posted images of empty shops and streets, under the caption: ‘Monday sit at home update for Biafra liberation & release of MNK (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) today, 9th of January 2023. Biafraland remain under lockdown.”

However, although Ekpa is insisting that there will be no election in the South-East, official IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful has distanced the group from the directive.

*IPOB has nothing against election – Spokesperson

In an interview with The ICIR, Powerful said: “IPOB has nothing against the Nigerian election and we have made it clear in our previous press releases that we are not interested on Nigeria’s selection process. And we are not not declaring sit- at- home.” He added that anybody who says IPOB don’t want election in the South-East “is an enemy of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra struggle”.

The Nigerian government has continued to blame IPOB for the killings and other forms of violence in the South-East, including attacks on facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). But Powerful said the government is sponsoring the insecurity in the region just to frame the group as a terrorist organisation. The Federal Government designated IPOB as a terrorist organisation after a court proscribed the group on September 21, 2017.

“Those trying to create confusion during the forthcoming elections in Nigeria are criminals and cultists recruited by the same Nigerian government to implicate IPOB and ESN. If we had wanted to stop elections we would have done that during the time of PVC registration but we didn’t do that. We never called for boycott because our strategy is to boycott election, not to stop election,” Powerful added, stressing that the group is a liberation movement that would not stop a democratic process.

Powerful had countered a five-day sit-at-home ordered by Ekpa in December 2022. But the directive eventually prevailed. The five-day sit-at-home, from December 9 to December 14, 2022, was ordered by Ekpa as a protest in the South-East against the forthcoming general elections.

It became one of the most violent episodes of the sit-at-home exercise, with reports of killings, maiming, abduction, arson and destruction of goods and property recorded across the South-East states. The violence was blamed on IPOB/ESN members enforcing the sit-at-home. But Ekpa, and Powerful, blamed it on the government.

*INEC offices targeted as terror reigns in South-East

Days after the five-day sit-at-home, and few weeks to the 2023 general elections, the South-East is literally under a reign of terror. INEC facilities are being targeted – an indication that the violence is aimed at stopping elections in the zone.Vehicles destroyed during the attack at the INEC head office in Owerri: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR.

In the latest incident, as of the time of publishing this report, gunmen attacked the INEC office in Enugu South Local Government Area on January 15, killing a policeman and leaving another injured. On the same day, the INEC office at Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Secretariat in Imo State was also attacked. On December 12, three hoodlums and a policeman were killed when gunmen attacked the INEC headquarters in Owerri.

The violence is not targeted at just INEC facilities. Prominent and less privileged individuals have all fallen victim. On December 26, a man was killed when hoodlums razed the country home of the APC chairman in Ebonyi. On January 1, gunmen invaded the home of the Ebubeagu commander in Afikpo South LGA, Ebonyi.

He escaped but his pregnant wife was killed. His houses were also razed.

On January 2, gunmen assassinated the President-General of Obosi community in Anambra. The same day, in Imo, four policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the convoy of a former governor Ikedi Ohakim. In Anambra, same day, gunmen killed five persons, including a PDP youth leader, near Awka. On January 4, a vigilante was killed by gunmen in Ihiala, Anambra.

Also on the same day, the chairman of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in Ibeme Ward, in the Isiala Mbano area of Imo State, was killed by gunmen. A police station in Aguata, Anambra, was razed on January 8. On January 10, four persons were killed by gunmen at Ihiala in Anambra. Same day, an intending couple, whose wedding was billed for January 18, was killed at Arondizuogu in Imo.

The groom’s brother was also killed. On January 12, four operatives of the Anambra Vigilante Service were killed by gunmen at Ihiala. The gunmen also set five buildings ablaze. On January 14, four persons were killed by gunmen at the residence of spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Ikenga Ugochinyere in Imo. Ugochineyere is the PDP candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency. On February 17, a police inspector was killed by gunmen in Abia.

The sole administrator of the Ideato North LGA of Imo State was abducted along with two others on January 20. The same day, two APC members were killed when gunmen stormed the venue of a party meeting in Izzi LGA of Ebonyi. An Ebubeagu commander in Ezza North LGA, also in Ebonyi, was equally killed that day by unknown gunmen.

On January 23, it was reported that the abducted Imo LG boss has been beheaded. On January 24, a ward chairman of the APC in Onuimo LGA of Imo State was shot dead by gunmen. Nearly every passing day comes with multiple reports of violence and killings in the zone.

The security situation in the South-East continues to deteriorate as the 2023 general elections draw closer. Residents who spoke to The ICIR expressed fear that the high level of insecurity will make it difficult for people to vote during the election, if the situation is not addressed.

“It (violence) is all part of a deliberate attempt to stop the election,” Okechukwu Isiguzoro, a national youth leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbos, told The ICIR in Umuahia, Abia State. “There is a deliberate attempt to scuttle the election, or, if not to scuttle the election, to frighten the people of the South-East from voting.”

In Enugu, a civil society activist, Peggy Chukwuemeka, Executive Director of Parent/Child Intervention Center, noted that although residents are approaching the elections with high hopes “due to expectations of change in government”, the threat of insecurity is a cause for concern. “People are looking forward to the election especially because of Peter Obi (Labour Party presidential candidate) but at the same time they are afraid. Nobody knows what will happen,” she said in a chat with The ICIR in Enugu.

James Nnanna, a civil servant in Anambra, said most residents of the state are approaching the election with fear. “Everyday you hear of killings here and there. I think some people are passing a message that they don’t want election,” Nnanna said in an encounter with The ICIR in Awka.The South-East recorded the lowest turnout of voters among the six geopolitical zones in the 2019 general elections.

There has been a progressive decline in voter turnout in the South-East since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule.

The zone recorded the lowest turnout among the six geopolitical zones in the 2019 general elections with 25.53 per cent. The 2023 general election may record even more abysmal levels of voter turnout if the prevailing state of insecurity persists.

The last governorship election in Anambra, where secessionists declared a sit-at-home during the election only to reverse the order on election eve, recorded arguably the lowest (worst) voter turnout in the history of governorship elections in Nigeria with just 10.38 per cent voter turnout.

*Security posts set up at INEC South-East offices

Amid attacks on INEC facilities ahead of the election, investigations by The ICIR on preparations for the polls revealed that security posts have been erected at major offices of the Commission in the South-East.

At the INEC head office in Enugu, The ICIR observed heavily armed security personnel positioned at a makeshift security post by the entrance of the building. The road leading into the street where the office is located has been closed to traffic.A security post erected at the INEC head office, Enugu: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR.

It was a similar situation at the INEC head office in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State. Armed security operatives were guarding the facility when The ICIR’s reporter visited. Barriers were also erected on the road leading to the office. A staff at the office, who did not wish to be named for security reasons, disclosed that ‘unknown gunmen’ have threatened to attack the facility.

Security was also beefed up at the INEC office in Awka. The office was earlier attacked in May 2021, months before the Anambra governorship election. Although a security post was erected at the INEC headquarters in Umuahia, Abia State, no security personnel was in sight when The ICIR visited the office. Abia appears to be the safest state in the South-East, judging by the frequency of attacks by the unknown gunmen running amok in the zone.
INEC head office, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR

Despite the recent attack on the facility by gunmen in December 2022, there was no security post at the INEC head office in Owerri, Imo State. Some of the vehicles that were burnt during the attack were still parked inside the office premises. But The ICIR observed that security personnel at the gate subjected visitors to stringent checks before allowing them inside.
INEC head office Owerri: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR

Further checks by The ICIR reveal that INEC is collaborating with security agencies through the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure that the election succeeds. The ICCES was set up to ensure that elections are secured.

At state levels, the ICCES comprises representatives of all security agencies, ranging from the army, police, Department of State Services (DSS), Civil Defense, Correctional Service, Immigration and others, as well as INEC. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and the Commissioner of Police (CP) are co-chairs of the ICCES at the state level. At the national level, the committee is headed by INEC chairman and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

The IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, had in November 2022 directed all CPs in charge of state commands to activate the ICCES in the various states towards engaging all stakeholders to evolve strategies to mitigate threats to the 2023 general elections.
INEC head office, Umuahia, Abia State: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR

The CPs were directed to ensure adequate and strategic deployment of officers and assets, as well as coordinate, deploy and supervise officers from other security agencies scheduled for election duty, in accordance with ICCES objectives. Fortification of INEC facilities to forestall attacks, ensuring safety and security of electoral materials and INEC staff, before, during and after the general elections, were among the key mandates of the ICCES.

The INEC spokeperson in Enugu, Pius Ezeh told The ICIR that the Commission is liaising with security agencies through the platform of the ICCES to ensure that elections hold in the South-East without hitches. “We are meeting, discussing and strategising on how to nip in the bud any threat from any angle,” he said in an interview with The ICIR in Enugu.

*Security checkpoints litter South-East

On the highway between Enugu and Umuahia, a distance of less than 120 kilometres, The ICIR’s correspondent counted 23 security checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers, police and other military personnel, during a tour of the South-East in early January 2023.

Vehicles, including private cars and commercial transporters, are stopped, questioned and most often, searched, at each of the checkpoints. In many instances, two checkpoints are within sight of each other. It was the same situation on all the major highways and inter-state roads in the zone. At some checkpoints, motorists and passengers are forced to disembark and would only resume their journey after a long wait.

The security personnel at the checkpoints are tense and on ‘red alert’ – the unknown gunmen operating in the zone often target policemen and soldiers at checkpoints and numerous security operatives have been killed in such guerrilla attacks.

Residents of some communities along the frontier, where soldiers were abducted or killed, have also been at the receiving end of excessive retaliatory action by troops.

Many villagers have been killed, and houses and shops razed, by irate soldiers seeking to avenge the killing of their colleagues in some of the South-East communities.

*Igbo leaders insist on elections

Amid the prevailing state of insecurity in the region, leaders of prominent socio-political groups in the South-East are insisting that elections must hold in the zone. President of Njiko Igbo Forum, a socio-political organisation, a Reverend, Okechukwu Obioha, in an interview with The ICIR in Enugu, insisted that “nobody can stop the election in the South-East”.

“People are not happy with the last five-day sit-at-home and as a result any sit-at-home order during the election will be resisted,” Obioha said. He argued that since the agitation for Biafra was largely a result of the marginalisation of the Igbos, it would be foolish for Biafra agitators to stop the people of the South-East from voting at a time an Igbo is among the top contenders in a presidential election. “There is insecurity in all parts of the country and election will still hold, South-East is not going to be different. Anybody that tries to stop election in the South-East is an enemy of the Igbos,” Obioha added.

Also insisting on elections in the zone, spokesperson of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Alex Ogbonnia told The ICIR that the level of insecurity in the South-East is not as high as it is made to appear. He said the situation has been amplified.

“Ohanaeze is concerned because the insecurity in the South-East is not as much as it was in the North-East and North-West in 2015 and 2019, and in spite of that, elections held. The insecurity in the North-Central at the moment is even worse than what is going on in the South-East,” he said.

He added that “the amplification of insecurity in the South-East is just a political machination which is not helping anybody. We just celebrated Christmas, there were a few skirmishes but that is not comparable to what is happening in the North-East and the North-West.”

Ohanaeze youth leader, Isiguzoro, said the association is doing everything possible to ensure that the election holds in the South-East. He urged the Federal Government to dialogue with leaders of the South-East, as well as the agitators, to resolve the insecurity in the zone before the elections.

*Police, INEC confident of peaceful elections in South-East

Despite fears and concerns nursed by residents, INEC and the Police are looking forward to peaceful elections in the South-East. “The Commission is on top of the situation. We don’t have doubts as to whether the election will hold in the South-East or not. It is as simple as ABC,” Ezeh, INEC spokesperson in Enugu, said.

He made reference to what happened during the 2021 governorship poll in Anambra. There were fears that the poll will not hold due to the sit-at-home ordered by IPOB on election day. But the group called off the sit-at-home on election eve.
INEC head office, Enugu: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR

The spokesperson of Anambra State Police Command Toochukwu Ikenga was equally confident, recalling the “success” of the Anambra governorship poll to justify his insistence that the election will hold without problems.

He said, “Election is a very big event, during elections, there are operational orders that guide Police and other security agencies. I wouldn’t want to disclose our strategy but I can assure you that all hands are on the deck to make sure we have successful elections.”

The spokesperson of the Police in Enugu, Daniel Ndukwe, told The ICIR that “maximum preparations” are being made for the elections. “We are doing our security threat analysis. We have activated ICCES. So the needful is being done and by God’s grace we will have a peaceful election.”

The spokesperson of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, a Major, Jonathan Unuakhalu, did not respond to The ICIR’s questions concerning plans to ensure security during the elections.

*Residents want security guaranteed on election day

Despite the confidence expressed by INEC and the police, there are strong indications that residents would not be willing to go out to vote on election day if they are not sure of their security. Several residents who interacted with The ICIR across the five South-East states were concerned about their safety.

President of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), a civil society organisation based in Enugu, Olu Omotayo, told The ICIR that residents are worried about a repeat of what happened during the five-day sit-at-home. “If something tangible is not done, and if what happened during the five-day sit-at-home repeats itself, people will stay at home,” Omotayo said, adding that residents need to be convinced that their safety is guaranteed.

“Nobody wants to risk their lives.” Chukwuemeka, Executive Director of Parent/Child Intervention Center, noted that feelers from the ongoing PVC collection exercise indicate that residents are willing to vote.
Peggy Chukwuemeka

But she expressed concerns that there would be loss of lives if a sit-at-home is ordered and enforced during the election. For Jude Ibezim, an Owerri-based tailor, safety will determine the turnout of voters in the South-East. Proudly displaying the PVC which he just collected, Ibezim said, “I am ready to vote, I have been looking forward to this. But if I hear that people are being killed on election day I will stay at home.”

*By ICIR, produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) with support from Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).