Southeast Voters Tell Neusroom How IPOB’s Sit-At-Home Order Will Affect Election
There is a growing concern about security issues ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 general election. From bandits terrorising states in the North West to Boko Haram attacks in the Northeast, the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the Southeast, across the country, insecurity has remained a major concern that stakeholders said might impact the conduct of the coming elections.
On February 13, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced 240 polling units where elections will not hold, over 26 per cent of the 240 polling units are in the Southeast.
Between 2019 and 2022, INEC recorded over 24 attacks in the Southeast alone. In Imo State, which has witnessed more attacks on INEC offices, elections will not hold in 38 polling units. Most of these polling units, where INEC said there were no registered voters, upon examination by Neusroom, are some of the polling units attacked by Unknown Gunmen (UGM). On December 12, 2022, Unknown Gun Men carried out an attack at INEC’s State Headquarters in Owerri, Imo State, two weeks later, the armed group attacked INEC offices in Orlu LGA and Orlu West LGA on December 1 and 4, respectively. For the presidential election scheduled to hold on February 23 and the Governorship election scheduled on March 11, 2023, elections will not hold in over 10 polling units across the entire Orlu zone.
With the continued bizarre attacks on INEC offices, including one on February 1, 2023, where UGM destroyed 729 ballot boxes and 243 voting cubicles in INEC office in Anambra, there is heightened tension in Southeast following the sit-at-home order issued by IPOB spokesperson, Simon Ekpa on Monday, February 13, 2023.
Ekpa who is based in Finland declared a six-day sit-at-home order across the entire region from 23 – 28, including a dust-to-dawn order on the day of the Presidential election.
While some residents who spoke to Neusroom have called the directive a ‘bluff’, others expressed fear that it will impede voter turnout in the region and affect the candidacy of Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party who hails from Anambra State, and is expected to win the region with a wide margin.
Okechi Anaba, a first-time voter in the region, told Nuesroom that the “order will dull the morale of the people in the Southeast region.”
“It is a big problem for voters in the region. If he enforces it using ESN, voters will choose to stay at home than risk coming out to vote and get harassed by gunmen or even killed.”
Between January-May 2021, the activities of ESN/IPOB resulted in the death of 256 people. Also, the region lost nearly $4 trillion within two years. While Nnamdi Kanu, who formed ESN in December 2020, was arrested in Kenya by the Nigerian government, attacks by ESN on public buildings across the region continued despite being remanded in detention.
Another resident who spoke to Nuesroom on the condition of animosity, said that though he wishes that Biafra can be actualised through a “peaceful referendum,” Ekpa “does not speak the minds of Ndi Igbo.”
“It will affect the outcome of the election. Before election day, I am certain that Simon Ekpa will release videos threatening people who will decide to go against the order. Unless something is done to make him revert the order, people might find it difficult to come and vote.”
Bright, a resident in Umuahia, told a Neusroom correspondent that “Ekpa is doing his ‘job’ just to pull down Peter Obi.” He believes that only the “illiterate” will comply with the sit-at-home order.
However, in solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu when he was arrested and charged to court in 2021, a compulsory sit-at-order every Monday was imposed by IPOB. While this has been reversed, the region still witnesses partial/complete lockdown every Monday, with businesses like banks refusing to operate in many parts of the Southeast on Mondays. The compliance of these orders are being enforced by a faction of ESN believed to be loyal to Simon Ekpa.
Chimaobi, a native of Nbawsi in Isiala Ngwa North, Abia State, who resides in Port Harcourt, told Neusroom that Ekpa is not in any position to issue orders to Southeasterners.
“The supreme leader of the Biafran movement, Maazi Nnamdi Kalu, never said that he has a second in command whom people should take directives from. Secondly, there is a legal team representing Nnamdi Kanu in court, and hears from him directly. These people should be the ones giving directives on Nnamdi Kanu’s opinion on the election.”
He added: “With the growing national acceptance of Peter Obi, I feel that Ekpa has been paid to sabotage the chances of him (Peter Obi) winning in the region. Epka has no right to impose a sit-at-home order, and we won’t obey it.”
When Neusroom examined about 10 tweets by Simon Ekpa, several of the comments were often in agreement, though this could mean that opposing comments were being deleted. His tweet on February 14, 2023, that “Biafrans will never drop their arms until final freedom, rather more sophisticated equipment is being added,” generated more agreeing comments as one user described the announcement as “good news.”
While he continues to muse “war of separation between the Biafra Liberation Army” and the Nigerian government, some residents in the region are refusing his directive. On Monday, February 13, 2023, there were reports that a yet-to-be-identified man who allegedly was enforcing the reoccurring Monday’s sit-at-home, was burnt to death by mobs in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
“Ekpa is bluffing. The election will hold in the Southeast, and I will be traveling to my hometown to vote. People are already standing up against Ekpa and his orders, ” Chimaobi said.
Ekpa’s latest order will no doubt affect voter turnout in the region that has already been gripped with fear.
In the 2019 election, four out of the five Southeastern States where among the 10 States with the lowest voter turnout. Pundits say the number may drop significantly despite the increase in the number of registered voters in the region.
On January 11, 2023, INEC announced that there are 10.9 million registered voters in the southeast, the lowest in the country.
Chief Ralph Obioha, former chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, in a statement made available to newsmen, while urging Igbos to ignore the sit-at-home order and prepare to vote, noted that compliance with the order will affect the emergence of Peter Obi as the President of Nigeria.
“On my part, as someone having the abiding authority of Igbo elder statesmen to speak on their behalf on issues like this, I make bold to say that, along with the vast majority of Nigerians, the Igbo elder statesmen are solidly behind Obi, not merely because he is Igbo but also because he unarguably possesses the high character and fitness to be a President. I call on all Ndigbo to ignore or caution anybody calling for boycott of the 2023 elections and prepare themselves to come and vote”, he said.
