BusinessHuman Rights & FreedomNewsSit-At-Home: Take A Cue From The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Stop Shooting Yourself in the foot

https://www.westafricanpilotnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Southeast-shuts-down-as-residents-obey-IPOB’s-‘sit-at-home’-order-Ebonyi_9th-August-2021_WAP-1280x853.jpg

ENUGU — The weekly sit-at-home order observed only in the south East have become a huge concern to leaders of thought, businessmen and well-meaning citizens and residents in that region as the end is not near insight.

Logically one wonders what impact the order is actually making in the nation for only the southeast geopolitical zone out of the 6 zones in the nation routinely observe the order.

In the past six months and counting, every Monday in a week, the entire five states in the zone — Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo –are a complete shadow of themselves.

Economic activities are grounded, students are forced to be at home and the last straw that broke the camel’s back is the barbaric way the unknown gunmen enforces the order; properties and lives of our people, the same Biafrans they claim to fight for are being wasted; who is fooling who?

Recently, the Chairman of South-East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi as reported in Vanguard newspaper said that the South-East geopolitical zone of the country loses over N10 billion each time it observes the sit-at-home order directed by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

The Chairman and other Governors are not alone on this trajectory and need for normalcy to return in the zone as many other groups and well-thinking individuals cry out the adverse effect of the order on the economy of the region.

Mrs. Ijeoma, a female Nigerian Educationist based in the United Kingdom during a visit to her motherland, Anambra state, expressed dismay at the massive economic loss incurred by her people on themselves.

In her opinion, complying with the order is a colossal loss for her people, the South Easterners, and the point they intend to score is unlikely as they seem to be succeeding in shooting themselves on their leg.

“How does the sit-at-home affect the Nigerian Government or the rest of the country?” She asked.

Going down memory lane, the veteran United Kingdom-trained educationist cited the Montgomery Bus boycott as a better way to protest politically and socially.

She said, “The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit of Montgomery, Alabama.”

The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955—the Monday after Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested for her refusal to surrender her seat to a white person—to December 20, 1956.

Taking a cue at the stance of blacks in Montgomery, the Igbos should devise another strategy to prove their point; take the battle to the enemy’s gate, not yours.

How does a total shut down of the South East in any way affect the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja or Lagos state in South West, Kaduna in the North West, or Rivers state in the South-South Geopolitical zone in Nigeria?

As germane as the grievances of the South East of Nigeria in areas of marginalization and arrest of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra’s leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, their strategy to showcase their feelings to the nation and world at large may not be the best; they need to get back to the drawing board.

Some advocate a boycott of patronage of the North’s produce which they say will affect the Northern states more than the South Easterners.

Whatever be the decision, all change agents’ hands must be on the deck to strategize better ways in rescinding the order for the general good of the zone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com