SOUTHEAST AND SIT-AT-HOME ORDER

It’s time to end the ruinous militancy in the Southeast.

Editorial |

It’s time to end the ruinous militancy in the Southeast

By August this year, it would be four years since the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) first imposed its sit-at-home order in the Southeast region of Nigeria. On Friday, Umuahia and Owerri, capital cities of Abia and Imo States respectively, witnessed empty streets as residents stayed back in their homes in compliance with IPOB directive. The roads were virtually deserted in both cities and across major towns in the two states. Meanwhile, a sobering May 2025 report by geopolitical risk analysis firm, SBM Intelligence, titled ‘Four Years of Disruption: Unmasking the Impact of IPOB’s sit-at-home order in Southeast Nigeria,’ has documented how this weekly act of protest has morphed into a recurring cycle of fear, economic paralysis, and tragic violence. During the lockdowns, businesses, offices, markets, and other essential services are compelled to remain closed. Urban streets, interstate highways and sometimes schools are usually deserted.

Initially conceived as a display of civil disobedience to demand the release of IPOB’s detained leader, NnamdiKanu, these Monday shutdowns, as detailed by SBM Intelligence, highlights how what began as a symbolic gesture of solidarity quickly descended into a far more complex and coercive reality. The analysis also underscores the sinister role of heavily armed elements—often referred to in hushed tones as ‘unknown gunmen’—in enforcing compliance. The report details numerous incidents where these groups—whose allegiances and motives, according to the SBM report, remain dangerously opaque—have been responsible for brutal enforcement, dishing out violence, and destroying the property of those who dare to defy the Monday lockdown.

The extensive economic hemorrhage is multiplied by the fact that most people in the Southeast operate in the informal sector as traders, shop owners, artisans, craftsmen, transporters, industrialists, wholesalers, and retailers of motley merchandise. Shutting down the economic space and closing schools in the entire zone has become counterproductive to whatever point IPOB may be making. But the sit-at-home order is also indicative of a larger erosion of political authority and serial failure of the State to restore law, order, and security.

In the last four years, the economic ramifications for the historically industrious Southeast have been nothing short of catastrophic—a central finding of the SBM Intelligence investigation. Commercial nerve centres like Onitsha, with its sprawling main market, and Aba’s Ariaria International Market, a hub for manufacturing and trade, effectively become ghost towns every Monday. Due to these enforced shutdowns, the SBM report estimates regional losses to have exceeded N7.6 trillion within the first two years alone. The transport sector, a lifeblood for inter and intra-state commerce, has bled profusely. The report also touches upon how agricultural products often rot due to transportation blockades and how investor confidence, both local and international, has plummeted based on their risk assessments.

Beyond the quantifiable economic devastation, SBM Intelligence dedicates significant analysis to the equally alarming erosion of human capital. The education sector has borne a heavy brunt. The report documents how students across the five Southeastern states—Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo—have lost countless schooling days. This creates a significant educational disadvantage for an entire generation, jeopardising their future and the long-term development of the region, a critical concern raised in the report. Access to healthcare and other essential services also becomes perilous on these enforced lockdown days, a recurring theme in the anecdotal evidence collected by SBM Intelligence.

The guerrilla-style attacks on security installations and personnel have escalated the cycle of violence, leading to increased militarisation. The SBM Intelligence report also presents the human cost of this protracted unrest. Between 2021 and early 2025, according to the report, more than 700 lives have been lost in IPOB-related violence. This figure encompasses clashes between security forces and alleged ESN operatives, attacks by ‘unknown gunmen,’ and alleged extrajudicial killings.

Overall, the conclusion of SBM Intelligence report aligns with our own position: All critical stakeholders must join the efforts to end the bizarre militancy that has become a thriving industry for some unscrupulous people in the Southeast. There is also an urgent need by the federal government to work towards healing the old wounds being nursed by most people in the Southeast.

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