Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, on Saturday vowed that any trader that refuses to open his or her shop in compliance with the May 31st Sit-at-home order by the IPOB will forfeit their shop.
Umahi who stated this during a live broadcast to commemorate his six years in office at the old Government House, Abakaliki, described the directive of IPOB as an act of foolishness.
He said; “This no movement order is foolishness. We will not go into any form of slavery. There will be free movement throughout today, tomorrow, and ongoing.
“I have banned all forms of procession apart from the one organized by the Local Government Chairmen as they are profiling our people. On Monday, the market must be operational. Any trader that refuses to open will forfeit his or her store.”
On the issue bordering on security, the Governor regretted that some people of the South East region were contributing to the present security challenges facing the zone even as he warned against divisive and misleading utterances by Politicians in the South East.
Sounding a warning to the youths of the region to avoid being brainwashed to cause mayhem in the State.
Umahi said; “Ebubeagu has come to stay. Stakeholders should advise our children. They should not confront security agencies. Agitation doesn’t mean killing security agencies.
“You should not be outside the country and vomiting rubbish. Freedom fighters should come down to the Southeast, let’s discuss.
“These six years have been very challenging. The devaluation of the naira and turbulent economy. God has never left us. We must thank the late Gen. Sani Abacha for the creation of Ebonyi State.
“We deeply indebted to him. The spirit of our founding fathers is devoid of selfishness. We thank our founding fathers. Without them, we will not be celebrating today.
“We must thank the security agencies. We thank them for the sacrifices they are making. I promise to do everything possible to support them.
“The dreams of our founding fathers have been realized. From November, we will roll out our drums to celebrate. We are postponing it to November.
“President Buhari is good to Ebonyi State and we are not afraid to say it. We are grateful as Ebonyi people. Phase one has started. We are grateful to God for that project. Abakaliki and the entire State will never be the same any longer.”
