Enugu Rejects Sit-At-Home Order, Issues Warning To IPOB

On Wednesday, the Enugu State Government issued a warning to the Indigenous People of Biafra, cautioning them against disrupting the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination in the state.

IPOB, a pro-Biafra group declared May 30, 2024, (tomorrow) a sit-at-home for the remembrance of Biafrans who died during the Biafra and Nigeria civil war.

Reacting to the sit-at-home order, the government in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Aka Eze Aka, said that the directive was contrary to what their forebears fought for.

Urging candidates and those involved in the conduct of the examination and other enterprises to go about their legitimate businesses, the commissioner assured that the state had taken steps to ensure adequate security of lives and property.

“The Enugu State Government notes with deep concern the statement credited to the Indigenous People of Biafra directing the West African Examination Council to postpone the General Mathematics (Theory and Objectives) examinations scheduled for Thursday, May 30, 2024, which the IPOB had designated ‘Biafra Heroes Day,’ Eze noted.

“We note with particular concern IPOB’s statement that ‘WAEC board should not endanger the lives of small children because that day is not safe for any individual in Biafra territory.’

“This is unacceptable to us, not only because of the well-known position of the Enugu State Government on illegal sit-at-home orders, which have dealt a great blow on the socio-economic life and fortunes of the South East region but also because of the far-reaching consequences of a whole generation of Enugu children failing to sit for a fundamental subject such as Mathematics in one year.”

It added, “Let no one make a mistake about it, Ndigbo excel on the wings of industry, education and human capital development. Therefore, any pronouncement or action that tends to deny our children their right to education, which is their ticket to the future, is offensive to our sensibilities and surely the sensibilities of our founding fathers and fallen heroes, who must be turning in their graves, wondering what could have happened to us as a people. Moreso, when many of the architects of such an unjust and evil agenda live in the comfort of civilised societies where they go to work and their children go to school every workday.

“The Enugu State Government recognises the sacrifices of our gallant forebears, who gave their all, including their lives, to defend the Igbo land. But we also recognise that they died that we may not just have life, but to have the best of it, which can only come from developing our human capital to be able to excel in all that we do as individuals and collectively as a people.

“The government will not sit by and watch the future of our children aborted by such ill-conceived pronouncement intended to keep them at home. WAEC, as the name implies, is a regional body organising SSCE, not just in Nigeria, but also across West Africa. The subregion will certainly not wait for us.

“The Enugu State Government, therefore, enjoins candidates sitting for the ongoing SSCE in Enugu State to feel free to go to their respective centres to sit for their papers on Thursday, May 30, 2024, without any fears, while the officials involved in the conduct of the examination should also go about their legitimate duties without apprehension.”

Meanwhile, in a circular entitled “Clarification on Attendance to Duty on Thursday 30th May 2024” signed by Head of Service, Mr. Ken Ugwu, the government warned civil servants and political appointees in the state that failure to report to work would attract severe sanctions.

Ugwu said: “It has become expedient to clarify that the State Government has not declared Thursday, 30th May 2024 as a public holiday or sit-at-home day contrary to misconceptions from some quarters.

“May I, therefore, remind our workers that failure to be in their duty posts on the above date will attract summary dismissal from Service in line with the enabling provisions of the Public Service Rules.”