By Augustine Ehikioya
Some Youth Leaders in Enugu State, Nigeria have condemned and picked holes in the proposed sit-at-home directive issued out by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
According to them, it is not only alien to the spirit of an average Igbo man, it will cause deep economic sabotage in the zone.
In separate exclusive interviews with Security Watch Africa (SWA), they maintained that the sit-at-home directive will do more harm to the region than good.
The Enugu State Secretary for National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Darlington Ugwuegwue, said “The sit-at-home issue is a very troubling issue because I am an Igbo man and an Igbo man is inbuilt with a kind of a complex quality that makes us Igbo. This quality is what has been able to distinguish us in the Nigerian nation. The quality is what has been able to make us economically important.
“Our economic power, social power is because of this quality manifest of our industriousness. An Igbo man is naturally industrious. We are wired with a belief that wealth lives outside of the home. So an Igbo man wakes up every morning and venture out to create wealth and that is why we are very rich people. We are economically important as far as this nation is concerned.
“So, the sit-at-home thing, saying that every person when you wake up on Monday morning, you sit at home, is an alien concept to the Igbo spirit. It is very strange to the spirit of the Igbo man. It is something that should be discouraged at all levels because there are persons who feed on their daily income.
“There are persons who sell fruits, different things that they make daily income before they feed. So, if you say they should sit-at-home, how are you expecting them to feed. It is something that is against what an Igbo man should stand for. It’s something that is against the Igbo man himself.
If we continue like this, at the long run we will discover that the sit-at-home issue will even fight against the agitation because what do we have to fight for if we don’t have the economic power. The rest of the Nigerian people respect us as Igbo men because of our economic strength, our social strength,” he said.
According to him, the Nigerian Army has been very instrumental to the peace being enjoyed in Enugu State.
He said “Military presence, generally, in any vicinity help to scare away hoodlums and perpetuators of violence. And Enugu State is not an exception. The deliberate actions of Nigerian Army and the Police along with other security architecture put in place by the Governor of Enugu State has helped to single out Enugu State from the parade of crises, matching through South east.
“As you can see, Enugu State is very very different. If you go to other South East States, people are very scared to even come out. But Enugu State is different, courtesy of the Nigerian Army. So, they are doing wonderfully well,” he stressed.
The immediate past National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) , Comrade Ilogebe Chidi, said the sit-at-home directive is a bad misadventure for South East.
He said “The youths of Nigeria, if I’m not mistaken, have little or no economic power because men at the highest echelon have continued to sabotage the economy to the detriment of the youths. But talking about the sit-at-home, it has been a bad misadventure for the South East as a region.
“And most particularly, young persons in the South East, you see on a Monday morning when vibrant youths supposed to be at the market place, on the streets, banks trying to make ends meet, you see them whiling away at home. And at the end of the day, there is nothing to show for the sit-at-home.
“So, for me, it is a very deep economic sabotage on ourselves as young persons in the South East. And it must be discouraged. In fact, that is the reason I’m here with my friend, Comrade Darlington, who is also the Secretary of the Youth Council. We are trying to see how the atmosphere is in the State.
“So, we are just going on a tour, trying to ascertain the level of compliance to know how to encourage more of the young persons to shun the sit-at-home in order to help the region.”
0n whether Nigeria is better off together, he said “This issue is multifaceted. It can’t be given a straight forward answer. But then, I will tell you it’s always better together. But when the togetherness is coming at the detriment of some certain set of persons.
“Or some persons feel they are not having what they are supposed to have as members of this great family, then it leads to what we are having currently. So, the mission and the message is very simple and clear that everybody who are part and parcel of this great family called Nigeria should be given equal sense of belonging. But when there seem to be no hope for certain set of persons in this family, then it has degenerated to what we have now, the restiveness among the youths in this particular region.”
Continuing, he said “For me, agitation is not bad, but it is the modus operandi that can overall summarize what you are really pursuing. So for me, try to agitate, but we should agitate in a proper manner. There are channels to handle grievances.
“So, this issue of sitting at home, attacking security personnel, attacking individuals, creating fear and causing panic cause no one any good. In fact, we are the most hit by it. And my problem is the intellectuals, the elites and the knowledgeable among us are not deeply involved in this process. So, you see, I don’t want to call them touts, those that have little or no stake in the Nigerian project are now the ones championing this. And of course, you know the judgement is not balanced. So the modus operandi is not completely okay,” he added.
He harped on the importance of the Nigerian Army as regard the maintenance of peace in Enugu state.
“In recent times, we have witnessed peaceful atmosphere in Enugu. Enugu is adjudged to be the most peaceful State in Nigeria. And this can’t go without a mention of the very wonderful interventions and diligent work by the military, the Nigerian Army 82 Division. They’ve been part of the progress we have witnessed as a State with regard to peace in Enugu,” he said.
On his part, the Enugu State Chairman for the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Comrade Batholomew Ebuka Okoro, urged the youths not to loose hope in the Nation.
He said “No average Igbo man supports idleness. Igbo man is known as hustler in every State. So, the issue of sit-at-home, even the IPOB have been giving releases that the sit-at-home have been called off, but till now people are still afraid because this sit-at-home has done more harm than good to the entire Eastern region.
“If they want to do the sit-at-home, I believe the people that should join the sit-at-home are people doing businesses in Lagos, outside the country. If all of them join hand with this sit-at-home, then people will then feel it. But when a section, they called us the dot nation, now chose the South East to sit-at-home, then we are crippling the activity of the South East.
“And it is very hazardous. Some of our aged mothers believe in daily markets to earn their living. So, if we continue this sit-at-home, the economy of South East will be crippled. And as an average Igbo man, we believe in hustling. We don’t believe in sitting at home. That’s why you see Igbo man in every part of the country.”
He added “My advice to my fellow youth is that they should not loose hope in this Nation. People do say we are the leaders of tomorrow, but currently, I dont believe in that ideology. We are the leaders of today and today starts now.
“Let us join hand and move the State forward. My advice goes specially to the youths of Enugu State. Let all of us come together and shun violence, because violence doesn’t pay. Let’s imbibe peace and leave everything to continue to be in the hands of God.
“The entire youths of Enugu State, youths of Nigeria, the youths in the entire West Africa and the whole world, my advice is let us shun anything violence, crime. Let’s imbibe peace. Lets join hand to work towards the youth agenda and I believe today is the starting point for us, if all of us agree to key into the youth agenda.”
He commended the Nigerian Army for the peaceful atmosphere in Enugu State.
“Unlike other places, you hear Army this, Army versus civilians. But here in Enugu, Enugu State is known as a peaceful State. So, the Army also has joined hands to maintain the peacefulness Also the citizens of Enugu don’t have issue with the Army.
“Well, this is an issue between the civilian versus the Army. Youths from my jurisdiction, youths from the South East who has been complaining about marginalization from the power at the centre. That’s why we have the agitation of the Biafra, that’s IPOB and MASSOB. Here in Enugu State, the agitation is peaceful. Sometimes as human beings, sometimes when you have a dog in the person of human being, he can misbehave.
“But the Army has used civility, intelligence, to curtail all these issues in Enugu State. So, here in Enugu, youths in Enugu, mostly are no longer known as violent youths. That’s why you hardly hear the Army and the youths are fighting. And also, I have to encourage them in that area because they are making things also easy for us. Because its not an easy something to govern the youths. But the military, through the new GOC, is making things easier for us. In fact, they are more like brothers,” he concludes.