A Draconian Policy In Anambra State -By Ike Willie-Nwobu

The Anambra State government seems eager, even desperate, to punish its people for what is clearly a spectacular failure of security and governance.

After weeks of speculation, the payment of the salary for February 2026 made one fact stark: that the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, had indeed kept his word to deduct the salaries of civil servants who failed to show up for work on Mondays because of the Sit-at-Home order imposed by the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) more than three years ago.

When the March salaries were paid, those punished in such a sloppy and arbitrary manner confirmed that the state governor had carried out his threats.

When two elephants tangle with each other, it is the grass that gets brutally trampled.

When IPOB imposed the Sit-at-Home order, which predated the administration of Soludo, by the way, the good people of Anambra State were reluctant to comply. A people who are known for their flourishing markets and legendary industry initially found a forceful closure of their businesses on the first working day of the week incomprehensible, even inconceivable. Until blood started to flow. Determined to have its way and knowing it was up against a largely toothless federal and state government, the IPOB and unknown gunmen started to kill those who dared to venture out on Mondays.

This situation forced the good people of the state to adjust. Until Soludo aired curious accusations that they were enjoying sitting at home on Mondays. He even shockingly suggested that the people were complicit in plans to cripple the state economically.

He began by threatening the main market. First he threatened closure, then loss of shops, and then demolition.

With his unbridled arrogance and penchant for rash decisions, Soludo has never been one not to make needless but costly mistakes. If he had made proper inquiries, he would have been told how the Sit-at-Home came to become so effective in the region.

If he was not so invested in brandishing high-handedness, he would have known that the fact that a faceless non-state actor was able to impose and enforce a sit-at-home order across an entire region, especially in Anambra State, was testament to the fact that the government in office had become largely impotent.

In the face of Nigeria’s surging insecurity, the creaking edifice of Nigeria’s security has been brutally exposed. In most cases, deadly attackers often carry out their attacks before security forces muster any sort of response.

For many Nigerians, the prayer is for the killers to spare them or not remember them at all because they neither trust the alacrity of their security agencies to respond on time nor their capacity to engage the terrorists.

The failure of the government at all levels to confront insecurity is costing Nigerians dearly. Many times, it is everyday Nigerians that are left to lick their wounds and mourn their loved ones.

For anyone to blame Nigerians for their insecurity woes is another level of cruelty and ugliness. When it is from someone who is in a position to do something about the situation but has largely failed to do anything, it is outright wickedness.

Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com