Southeast Nigeria Residents Are Tired Of Being IPOB's Slaves - Femi Adesina

Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, says the people of Southeast Nigeria are tired of the sit-at-home restrictions imposed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on the region.

The sit-at-home order was introduced by IPOB in the South-East to protest the detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group who is standing trial for alleged treason and terrorism.

Although the separatist group suspended the order in September 2021, there have been reports of forceful, sometimes violent, enforcement by suspected thugs in the region.

However, Buhari’s one-day visit to Imo State on Tuesday came amid a sit-at-home order in the southeast issued by IPOB.

The separatist group had announced Tuesday, September 13 as sit-at-home day, directing that there should be a total lockdown in Southeast and South-South regions.

It said the civil action was necessary because its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was scheduled to appear in court on that day to continue his trial, which coincided with President Buhari’s visit to Imo.

Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since last year.

Adesina in an article shared on his official Facebook page on Thursday night said the people of southeast are fed up with shackles and are waiting to burst loose and enjoy their liberty once again.

He said this was one of his observations during the visit of the President to Imo on Tuesday.

"It was not a triumphal entry. It was not designed to be. It was just a duly and legitimately elected President visiting a part of the territory he presides over," the presidential spokesperson said.

“President Muhammadu Buhari’s working visit to Owerri, Imo State on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, had no measure of braggadocio, bravado, or vainglory. Count the man out of such conceit. A father was just visiting his children, despite rattling of the sabre by some misguided folks, who had ordered everyone to stay at home, and shun the August visitor.

“The President was in Imo, and what a breath of fresh air the visit turned out to be. Despite a ‘Sit at home order,’ which is often enforced by mayhem and murder, a good number of people turned out to welcome the President. Men, women, boys, girls. Those who didn’t congregate at the venue of road commissioning, and at the precinct of the newly rebuilt State House of Assembly, and the Government House, were in front of their houses, waving to the convoy, as the President drove past.

"You know what I saw in Owerri and environs? A people fed up with shackles, waiting to burst loose and enjoy their liberty once again. “Man is born free, but everywhere, he is in chains," (Rousseau, in The Social Contract). Owerri people cast off their shackles, came out singing, dancing, and welcoming their President. That was what they wanted, and it was what they got.

“Who first puts a people they say they want to liberate under bondage? They cabin and crib them every Monday, (Ghost Monday, they call it, when no business must be done), at huge social and economic costs. And any other day the leader of the separatist movement currently standing trial also appears in court, they compel the people to sit at home, to their disquietude and sorrow. Tuesday was one of such days.

"But did all the people stay at home? Not so. They were tired of being turned to slaves, when they were born free. You could see the excitement, the joy on their faces, as they turned out to receive their President. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by the yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1).

“The Owerri/Orlu, and Owerri/Okigwe roads, being done in sections, were commissioned. Well-built roads with good drainage, which will guarantee longevity. And then the rebuilt ultra-modern State House of Assembly. The President entered the complex, shook his head in wonderment, and told Gov Hope Uzodimma: “You have written your own history.” Wonderful!

“At the reception and lunch later in Government House, the Governor could not stop recounting all that President Buhari has done in the region, despite what seems eternal antagonism by some brainwashed people. Let me adopt this chronicle I’d seen on social media, which rather satirically speaks to those entrenched in certain unfounded positions in the South East. It goes thus:

“This is how President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC Government marginalized the South East geopolitical zone in Nigeria for 7½ years.”