Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has expressed optimism that today (April 4, 2022) marks the end of the Monday sit-at-home, which the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) had declared and enforced since last year.
Soludo, after attending a prayer session at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area, declared that henceforth, Monday sit-at-home directive has formally come to an end.
The special prayer session was held for the return of peace and tranquility in the Anambra State.
In his brief homily, the Bishop of Ekwulobia, His Lordship, Most Rev. Ebele Okpalaeke, who led the prayer session, charged the people to embrace peace.
Bishop Okpalaeke noted that nothing can be achieved without peace and harmony in the land, appealing to those who are bent on creating fear and tension in the land to sheathe their sword and embrace the olive branch offered by the government for peace to return to the State.
Governor Soludo in his remark, also appealed to the non-State actors still engaged in all manner of criminalities to lay down their arms and embrace peace.
He reiterated that the IPOB had issued a press statement putting an end to the Monday sit-at-home.
Soludo further said the people and the State are the major losers anytime the sit-at-home order is enforced, adding that children are deprived of going to school every Monday while economic activities are also grounded.
A typical sit-at-home Monday in the South east
According to him, the State cannot continue in that manner, stressing that this is the time to take back Anambra State, and build it as a home of peace and the light of the nation.
Soludo also informed the congregation that the government has put in place measures to rehabilitate and train the youths to be gainfully employed, as well as the setting up of a Peace and Reconciliation Commission to reconcile all aggrieved parties.
The governor announced that with the prayers offered today, the Monday weekly sit-at-home is officially over.