{"id":2650,"date":"2017-05-30T15:23:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T15:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2017-05-30T15:23:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T15:23:33","slug":"biafra-day-tentative-steps-as-businesses-shut-major-roads-are-deserted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2650","title":{"rendered":"UPDATED: Biafra Day records compliance as businesses shut, major roads are deserted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
The ever-busy Enugu-Portharcourt Expressway, Osisioma Aba intersection deserted on Tuesday<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nBy Uzoh Nwakaije, Awka; Chinenye Chukwueke, Umuahia.
\nMany major roads were shut down Tuesday in the South-Eastern flank of Nigeria as many businesses closed shop in deference to the sit-as-home order of many groups in commemoration of Biafra Day.
\nOthers did it not as a precautionary measure not run foul of enforcers of the day, or be caught up in a fight between agitators and the Police.
\nSome other residents frowned at what they described as “needless sit-at.home order which led to loss of billions of Naira and man-hours which puts us ahead of others.”
\n“It is just political gimmickry by those who want to ride on others back to prominence. The republican and industrious spirit is good, but we can serve ourselves better than allowing Ill-educated persons to dictate to us and scare us to remain indoors,” one fearful resident of Onitsha said.
\nIn Anambra, commercial activities were paralyzed as markets, schools, and banks shut down
\nMany remained indoors while markets, banks, schools and government departments were closed just as many civil servants did not report for duty.
\nIn Awka, the state capital, some were seen gathered in groups discussing the development and youths turned every open space into a football pitch.
\nThe Eke Awka, timber market and other nearby markets remained closed and did not open for business. Few vehicles especially private cars and buses were seen on the major roads in Awka town, including the Zik avenue, Ifete and Arthur Eze roads. Also few vehicles plied the Onitsha \u2013 Enugu expressway.
\nAlso at the state secretariat, only few civil servants reported for work at the government house and state secretariat and left as soon as they arrived.
\nIt was the same situation in Ekwulobia, Nnewi and other nearby towns in the state where traders were seen sitting in clusters chatting away their time.
\nIn Onitsha, the popular Upper Iweka motor park, Owerri road and environs were all deserted, and all the markets, schools, banks, shops and other business offices were all closed.
\nThere were few vehicles on the Onitsha Asaba highway and the Onitsha Enugu Expressway while there were few pedestrians in transit.
\nSecurity operatives including the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps and the local vigilante groups were seen patrolling the streets of Onitsha and Nnewi.
\nIn his reaction, Jude Ukachukwu in Awka, said this idea of interruptions can not help achieve the agitation for Biafra, and advised that Ndigbo build a strong political party, build bridges and campaign for the position of president.
\nMeanwhile, IPOB has congratulated its supporters and other Nigerians within and elsewhere for complying with the sit at home order issued by its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
\nIPOB frowned at those they called saboteurs who were paid by the federal government to twart efforts at restoration of the Biafra project as they hailed members worldwide for obeying the clarion call.
\nThe Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, in a statement yesterday, said that Biafrans have proven to the entire world that they need freedom and must not go back in the quest for independence of Biafra.
\nPowerful commended most of the transport companies and business establishments in the South-East geo-political zone for their adherence to total compliance.
\nA resident of Umuahia, the Abia State capital narrated the situation this morning: “So far the town is quiet. Some businesses are cautiously opening. There’s no serious police presence thus far just the regular ones stationed at various points and those directing traffic.
\n“Traffic is very light but it’s normal because this is a civil service town and people don’t go to work early.
\n“Parents are bringing their kids to school but others are still monitoring the situation.”
\nResidents of Umuahia are extra careful following the show of strength by the Police and Biafran agitators. It is also the hometown of Nnamdi Kanu, the head of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (Ipob).
\nKanu is from Afara village in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA) and his father is a traditional ruler of his community. His village is the host of the Government house and the family house is about two kilometers to the Government House.
\nHe has been in town since his release and has been receiving visitors there.
\nThe serenity that has been the lot of majoe cities in the South-East is coming as a recollective feature piece on the agitation of the Biafra supporters went viral.
\nIt reads:
\n# I\u2019m heading to Uzoakoli to do battle.\u00a0I\u2019m heading to Uzoakoli, but My lover cries out, she didn\u2019t want me dead.
\nMy lover begs me to flee,
\nBut who will defend the land When I flee?
\nMy sweet heart begs me to Flee,
\nBut who will do battle when the Hausas come#
\nWith this song Biafran men marched into battle to defend their fatherland \u00a0as Northern troops led by British tanks and Russian planes invaded their land to continue the Genocide that they started in the North \u00a0in 1966.
\nEvery Month of May, we Remember Over 45, 000 innocent people, men, women, children of old Eastern Nigeria , butchered in 1966 all over Northern Nigeria just \u00a0in three months in the first government supported genocide in Africa.
\nMany were laid on rail tracks and crushed by train, men buried alive, pregnant women had their bellies ripped open,Children clubbed to death, Innocent souls whose only crime was \u00a0belonging to a different ethnic group and Faith,
\nTo the 45,000 \u00a0Innocent souls whose blood was used to irrigate the deserts of Northern Nigeria, although the conspiracy of silence continues by most Nigerians, although no monuments are erected, although no atonement has been made for that unprecedented horror,their Blood continue to cry out against this nation, a nation that pretends it never happened – but we, your kins, forced to bury empty coffins, we your brothers-
\nWE REMEMBER
\nThe Thousands and thousands unaccounted for- in unmarked graves, from Kano to Maidugiri, to Jos to Markudi, to Zaria, to Kafanchan,to illorin,
\nAlthough Nigeria sits on these graves and pretends it didn\u2019t happen but we in whose home steads you left empty spaces-
\nWE REMEMBER
\nTo the he brave hearts who stood up to the British armoured cars with matchetes
\nTwo Boys who shared a riffle so when one fell the other will pick up his gun to defend his freedom. To the men who went into battle with five rounds each and must only shoot when he was sure to kill. The men who laid down their lives so I may live
\nWE REMEMBER
\nMy three kinsmen who volunteered in Oguta and Ontisha sectors,brave men Who never returned-still on patrol
\nYOUR FAMILIES REMEMBER
\nTo Bruce Mayrock, an American student who set himself on fire, laid down his life to protest against \u00a0the Genocide by Nigeria against its own people
\nWE REMEMBER
\nArtur Alves Pereira and Count Von Rosen \u00a0of the Biafran airforce who came to Biafra in protest against the state sponsored pogrom
\nWE REMEMBER
\nTo Wole Soyinka, who stood alone and insisted\u201d the man died\u201d who kept silent in the face of such a pogrom
\nWE REMEMBER
\nTanzania, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Haiti, nations that hoisted our flags against the silence of the world
\nWE REMEMBER
\nAll members of the Research And Production unit (RAP),
\nwith no outside help YOU demonstrated that the black man can do wonders if only he looks inwards; Home made armoured cars, rockets, beer from cassava, engine oil from coconut, the Biafran Red Devil (Amoured vehicle), the Shore Batteries, the Ogbunigwes. Your ingenuity, your bravely, today-
\nWE REMEMBER
\nTo our brave mothers , who cooked and sent to their sons in the trenches, knowing it could be their last meal-
\nWE REMEMBER
\nThe little boys who went \u201ccombing\u201d many returned, many did not
\nWE \u00a0REMEMBER
\nThe World Council of Churches, The Caritas, The Red Cross who saved millions of children with food aid, despite the blockade,
\nWE REMEMBER
\nMillions of our Children who had no milk and died before their time
\nWE REMEMBER
\nAh! Corporal Nwafor, you took in the hail of bullets from the vandals yet continued your final run towards their armoured car with a grenade in your hand, until you successfully threw the grenade into the troublesome vehicle and disabled it before you let your bullet riddled body fall to the ground and your comrades captured the precious armoured car and renamed it \u201cCopral Nwafor\u201d
\nWE REMEMBER
\nCol Patrick Achuzie-, General Alexander Madiebo, Gen. Philip Effiong, Col. Onwuatuegwu, Nkonko Ndem and all brave men who stood in the gap
\nWE REMEMBER
\nOdumegwu Ojukwu switched from Ball rooms to Bunkers, leaving behind a tremendous wealth to give shelter to a people faced with death, you turned artisans into fighters and scientists, \u00a0your mission, to build the first black nation with an indigenous technology.
\nUnder the pressure of \u00a0mortar shells and in less than three years, you demonstrated that \u00a0the black man can hold his own, but the whites didn\u2019t seem to be comfortable with an indigenous African technology, so \u00a0UK and USSR suspended their enmity and empowered their Northern stooge to distract you. The Arab League threw its weight behind the North, the rest is history
\nGeneral Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu,Eze igbo gburugburu, oguejiofo..
\nWE REMEBER
\nMay justice prevail, may peace reign, may we NEVER find a need to shed blood,May \u00a0God open the eyes of this Nation to see that like the blood of Abel, the blood of the innocent Easterners shed \u00a0needlessly in 1966 calls for atonement and until the Nation collectively owns up to it, it can never be free from this vicious circle.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Uzoh Nwakaije, Awka; Chinenye Chukwueke, Umuahia. Many major roads were shut down Tuesday in the South-Eastern flank of Nigeria as many businesses closed shop in deference to the sit-as-home order of many groups in commemoration of Biafra Day. Others did it not as a precautionary measure not run foul of enforcers of the day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}