…PISE-P begins from Abia

By Ugochukwu Alaribe, Umuahia

The sit-at-home enforced by criminal groups in the South-East is gradually killing the economy of the geo-political zone and making it a ghost land.

Investors are relocating to safer areas as businesses are dying.

Meanwhile, an initiative, Peace in South-East Project, PISE-P, is about to be unveiled to address the situation.  

For over two years now, there has been an ill-wind blowing taking root in the South-East geo political zone of Nigeria.

It is the sit-at-home formerly declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a separatist group.

The sit-at-home has become a thorn in the flesh of the South-East.

The separatist organization had, in July 2021, declared the sit-at-home in the zone to demand the release of its detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

However, IPOB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said it has cancelled the civil disobedience. But before then, the protest had been hijacked by criminal gangs that created fear while threatening lives and properties across Igboland.

The sit-at-home seems to have come to stay every Monday, leading to revenue losses and disappearance of investor confidence in the region.

Losses

The South-East, according to reports, has lost no fewer than N50 billion worth of investments as businesses remain shut every Monday.

Anybody who opens for business on Mondays is seen as a ‘saboteur’ and risks death and destruction of his goods.

Today, nobody is safe in the once peaceful South-East.

The criminal gangs who have also taken over the forest areas of the zone hide under the detention of the IPOB leader for their heinous actions.

Every Monday, schools, markets, banks and other business centres close shop over fear of attack by the hoodlums enforcing the sit-at-home.

Criminal gangs lay siege to the highways, killing and burning vehicles who dared to ply the roads.

The siege on the zone appears to have defied solution, even as allegations of collusion of security agents in the menace spread like wildfire.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that people choose to shut their businesses and stay at home because of fear of attack by hoodlums enforcing the sit-at-home rather than out of freewill to comply with the civil disobedience.

Huge risk

In the past, the South-East hosted tourists and visitors who derived joy in visiting the zone due to its relatively peaceful nature. But, today, such adventures can only be undertaken on a huge risk with several numbers of security escorts.

Kidnappings, armed robberies, ritual killings and assassinations have been the order of the day.

Over 1,000 persons, according to reports, have been kidnapped and billions of Naira collected in ransom across the five states of the zone namely Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

Others fell victims to ritual killings and their bodies in many cases abandoned to decompose in the forests.

A former Prelate of the Methodist Church, Bishop Samuel Kanu Uche, who was kidnapped at Umunneochi LGA of Abia State, said he paid N100 million to kidnappers to regain his freedom.

Other victims, who survived kidnap ordeals, narrated tales of long treks into the forest where they passed through bodies of those killed by kidnappers for not paying ransom.

Headless bodies

Recent discovery of over 70 headless decomposing bodies at the forest surrounding the Lokpanta Cattle Market in Umunneochi council area of Abia State is a tip of the iceberg on how the South-East has become a killing field due to the activities of the criminal gangs who have held the zone by the jugular.

People are now afraid to travel on the highways for fear of kidnap. Not even the federal highways in the zone with several military and police checkpoints are free from kidnapping, armed robbery and ritual killings as criminals seize passengers and herd them into the forest.

Some of the kidnap incidents are alleged to have occurred metres away from security checkpoints.

Travel alerts

Foreign nationals now avoid the South-East, even as their nations continue to issue travel alerts asking their citizens to keep away from the zone.

No part of the South-East is exempted from the menace of kidnapping as criminal gangs hold sway and have sacked local communities in many areas.

Govs vows

Worried by the situation, Governors Peter Mba of Enugu State and his Anambra counterpart, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, in separate events, vowed not to succumb to the antics of non-state actors, stressing that those who are enforcing sit-at-home do not have the powers to do so.  

They described those enforcing the protest as criminals who are looking for ways to cause disharmony in the society.

Other governors have not lagged behind on efforts to keep the South-East active on Mondays as several patrol teams of security agents are always seen patrolling the streets of the zone every Monday.

PISE-P to the rescue

However, it appears all hope is not lost. Sunday Vanguard gathered that a peace project tagged, Peace In South East Project, PISE–P, will soon be launched to divert youth attention from criminality and attract development to Igboland.

The Peace In South East project, a non-kinetic approach towards tackling insecurity in Igboland, is being promoted by some leaders from the zone who are worried that the South-East is fast becoming a ghost land where even the natives are fleeing from.

It was also gathered that PISE-P is scheduled be officially unveiled in December 2023 in Abia State.

Sources hinted that the project aims at solutions that would bring about lasting peace in the South-East through attracting the attention of the Federal Government to the dilapidated infrastructure, marginalization and youth unemployment in the zone.

Other objectives of the project include instituting government empowerment programmes such as skill acquisition training, scholarship programmes, access to funding, job opportunities as well as granting soft loans for agricultural businesses to the youth.

It also aims to give the youths of the zone a sense of belonging; shaping their minds and diverting them from restiveness as well as the psychological effect of marginalization.

 The Peace in South East Project (PISE-P) is a comprehensive five-year peace-building and development initiative designed to address the complex socio-economic challenges and security issues facing the South East region of Nigeria. Developed in response to the growing impact of agitations, economic decline, and security threats, PISE-P seeks.

to restore peace and stimulate development through a multi-stakeholder approach. 

Essentially, the vision of PISE-P is to birth a peaceful South East, where prosperity, and opportunities are abound, and every citizen is empowered to contribute to a thriving and united Nigeria.

Lamentations, way out

A trader at the Ariaria International Market, Aba, Abia State, who gave his name as Chima Anyim, said the sit-at-home has destroyed the economy of the South-East and urged state governors from the zone to liaise with the Federal Government and devise strategies to end the civil disobedience.

Anyim, who said he had lost over N30 million to the protest, urged Governor Alex Otti to emulate Mba who has mobilized security agencies against criminals enforcing the sit-at-home every Monday in Enugu.

He said: “Government should do well to flush out criminals who now use the sit-at-home to loot shops and kill people. 

“I have lost over N30 million worth of properties to the hoodlums enforcing the sit-at-home.

“My two tricycles and truck load of goods were attacked and burnt by these hoodlums.

“Every business in Aba has been affected negatively. Everywhere is shut down every Monday, nothing happens.

“The next day, there is heavy traffic on all roads, so you can’t easily move goods and services.

“It is the same situation in all the markets in the South-East.

“So, you can see that the economy of the zone has been affected.

“We are losing investors and customers because people feel that the South-East is no longer safe.

“Most businesses are dead; others are just managing to stay afloat. Everybody is complaining.”

A resident of Umuahia, Chief Ikechukwu Nnadi, said it is high time the leaders of the zone brainstorm on strategies to restore peace to the troubled zone.

He lamented that over 1,000 persons have lost their lives due to the activities of criminal gangs who hide under the agitation of Biafra and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, especially in Anambra, Imo and Enugu states.  

Nnadi alleged that most people now conduct the traditional marriage ceremonies of their children in distant areas like Abuja and Lagos due to the takeover of their local communities by criminal gangs.  

He said: “What is causing the insecurity in the South-East is sheer criminality, nothing more.

“It is far from the agitation for Biafra. It is no longer news that most Igbo communities in Imo and Anambra states have been taken over by criminal gangs who claim that they are agitating for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “Nobody should be deceived. It is all about criminality. The people of the South-East can no longer visit their villages to hold traditional events or handover their children in marriage because of fear of kidnap by the criminal gangs.

“It is a problem that requires the attention of the Federal Government and leaders of the zone to urgently address.”

On his part, a chieftain of the pan-Igbo socio cultural organization, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu, insisted that holding political office holders accountable is the only way to return peace to the South-East

He explained that until the people of the South-East begin to hold political office holders accountable, the high rate of insecurity and insensitivity to community welfare will not reduce.

Ozobu told Sunday Vanguard that the insecurity challenges in the zone is mostly caused by the inability of the South-East political office holders to use the resources accruing to the zone to develop the area and provide employment to the youths.

He said: “Lots of things have happened in the South-East. 

The problem is in us, not outsiders.

“I blame political office holders for the rising cases of insecurity in the South-East zone. “They have failed to deploy the resources accruing to the zone to develop the area and provide employment for the youths. “How can you have the political class living in affluence when the masses are in abject poverty? There is no accountability in the system.

“The Federal Government has never withheld allocation to the South-East.

“So, what have we done with the allocations that accrue to the South-East?

“There is a high level of unemployment.  And how do you think there will be peace with this high level of unemployment in the South-East zone?

“We have not made any effort to trace who we are, but we are always quick to blame others.

“We need to re-orientate our youths about the issue of accountability in the issue of political representation in the South-East. “Most of our governors were not born or too young during the Civil War, so they do not fully understand the issue of insecurity and what are causative factors. Today, nobody knows history, because it is no longer taught in schools.

“What I am saying is that a security outfit like Ebubeagu can’t work because the governors never wanted it to work.

“You can’t just buy guns and give to untrained people and you don’t hook them up to the national security grid and expect peace in the land. This is certainly a recipe for insecurity.

“The resultant effect will be insecurity because politicians may even hijack them for their selfish purposes. Lots of youths are idle, the governors must think out initiatives that can create jobs for the people in different sectors.”