IPOB’s Sit-at-Home Order Disrupts WAEC
- Suspected operatives chase students out of exam hall
Some suspected members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Nigeria (IPOB) on Monday disrupted the West African Examination Council (WAEC) as they chased students of Comprehensive Secondary School Nkume Njaba in Imo State out of the exams hall.
Students and staff of the School located in Njaba Local Government Area of the State were scared off by enforcers of the IPOB’s sit-at-home order as they settled down to write the WAEC English Language Examination.
It was gathered that a group of men came into the school around 8.30 am to chase the students, staff, and invigilators while burning down all the motorcycles parked on the premises.
A student, who gave her name as Ngozi while narrating her experience, said: “Unknown gunmen came into the hall to ask us to stop our exams and chased us out. They also burnt bikes.”
However, residents of Imo State on Monday made a volte-face and carried out their usual daily business activities. Though few vehicles were on the roads, some businesses, fast-food centres, artisans, street/roadside traders, supermarkets and mobile food vendors operated freely better than last Monday when streets and roads were all deserted.
Although businesses at the major markets were not at their peak, a reasonable percentage of buying and selling went on in virtually all the local government areas of the state just as Okada riders ferried passengers to their various destinations unhindered.
In Owerri, the state capital, Wetheral, Douglas, Tetlow, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Okigwe, Mbaise, Aba, and Orlu roads, vehicles were on roads even as inter and intra-city bus services were available for commuters.
However, some fear-stricken sensitive institutions such as banks public and private schools, apprehensive of a possible invasion by hoodlums and miscreants, remained closed for customers, students and pupils.
On the other hand, the hospitality industry heaved a sigh of relief with guests seen trooping into hotels. This is as another resident and a businessman, Nick Iwuoha urged security agencies to demonstrate more capacity at protecting the people during the enforced order.
“If our security agencies have shown the slightest sign that they are capable of protecting the people, many citizens will defy these sit-at-home orders.
He said; “It is becoming rampant and frivolous. I trust the Igbo man, just a matter of time, it will lose steam and public sympathy and the people will defy it. In the meantime, let the security agencies shown some capacity.” – The Nation newspaper