Otti renders IPOB’s sit-at-home null and void, says ‘we have work to do’

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has rendered null and void the sit at home order by a faction of the Indigenous people of Biafara, (IPOB) led by fugitive Simon Ekpa.

The governor who made this known on Monday in Abuja at a sideline of a security meeting convened by the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu to address the issue of insecurity in the South East Region said residents in his state cannot afford to stay at home for two weeks in compliance with the directives.

According to him, the state cannot afford to sit at home when they have work to be done.

“A lot of people live on a daily basis; the taxi drivers, the keke drivers; the woman that is selling pepper in the market, if she sits at home for two weeks, she will die of hunger. So, it (the order) is null and void,” Dr. Otti told journalists, who spoke with him after the meeting,” he said.

He said only a handful of people were benefitting from the sit-at-home order, adding that the IPOB faction is using the instrument of fear to intimidate the people and as such government cannot sit and watch them succeed.

“Governments all over the world cannot be threatened and we need to sound that note of warning,” he stressed.

The meeting was attended by governors of the South East states, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

Governor Otti and his Imo counterpart, Hope Uzodimma, attended in person while the other governors were represented. Also, in attendance were the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa, and other senior military and police officers.