ONITSHA TRADERS PLEDGE TO END MONDAY SIT-AT-HOME, SOLUDO ASSURES ENHANCED SECURITY
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Traders at Onitsha Main Market and other markets across Anambra State have pledged to end the prolonged Monday sit-at-home and resume full commercial activities, following a directive from Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
The traders gave the assurance on Thursday during an interactive session with the governor, after market closures and weeks of sit-at-home orders had disrupted business across the South-East.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the Chairman of Onitsha Main Market, Chijioke Okpalugo, said traders are ready to reopen on Mondays in support of the governor’s “One Anambra” vision, but appealed for enhanced security to safeguard lives and property.
Okpalugo, representing market leaders, called for a visible and sustained security presence, fully operational motor parks to ease the movement of goods and buyers, and decisive action against those benefiting from or enforcing the sit-at-home.
“Our governor is a listening and progressive-minded leader. We strongly believe he will consider our appeal and allow us to reopen markets because he cares for his people,” Okpalugo said. “We have lost fortunes since the Monday sit-at-home began. We are fully in support of the governor’s actions against this order.”
Governor Soludo declared that all markets and shops in Anambra State must remain open every working day, including Mondays, stressing that the era of sit-at-home-induced closures was over.
He assured traders of an overhaul of the state’s security architecture around commercial centres, promising protection from harassment and intimidation. Soludo also presented a “renovate or rebuild” plan for Onitsha Main Market, offering either a complete redevelopment into a modern trading hub or a comprehensive overhaul of existing structures.
“Igboland and Anambra will move forward. Business activities must continue regardless of the option chosen. The enforcement of the sit-at-home is a criminal enterprise, no longer linked to the agitation for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the governor said.
He added that many individuals enforcing the sit-at-home were not indigenes of Anambra State and warned that the government would take extreme measures if defiance persisted.
The development signals a major step toward restoring normal commercial activities in the state, with traders and the government aligning to end disruptions that have affected economic growth in the region.
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