For nearly five years, every Monday has carried the weight of silence across South-East Nigeria. Markets that once pulsed with trade have stood still, roads emptied, schools closed and livelihoods suspended — not by law, but by fear. What began as a political protest has hardened into a routine economic shutdown, costing the region trillions of naira and eroding its future. Now, voices from within the South-East are demanding an end to what they describe as a ruinous cycle of self-inflicted paralysis.
Chief Rojeny Ezeonwuka (Ogilisi Igbo) is among the most forthright. In an extended interview, he described the sit-home order as one of the gravest economic mistakes in the region’s contemporary history and urged an immediate, collective return to normal life.
“For close to five years, the South-East has deliberately stopped functioning one day every week,” Ogilisi said. “Markets are closed, banks are shut, transport is frozen, schools are silent. No economy survives under those conditions. What we have done to ourselves is more destructive than any external pressure.”
He said cumulative economic losses since the sit-at-home order began now exceed ₦7 trillion, with some estimates rising much higher when informal sector activity is fully accounted for. According to him, each Monday shutdown drains tens of billions of naira from the regional economy through lost trade, halted manufacturing, disrupted logistics and unpaid labour.
“These losses compound,” he said. “You are not just losing daily income. You are losing investor confidence, expansion plans, jobs and long-term growth. Businesses that should have scaled up have collapsed. Others have relocated entirely. This is economic self-sabotage.”
Ogilisi pointed to Anambra State as a stark illustration. Home to what is widely regarded as the largest market in Africa, the state should be a magnet for commerce and industry. Instead, repeated shutdowns have weakened activity in Onitsha, Nnewi and surrounding industrial clusters, with ripple effects felt across the wider South-East.
“Think about the biggest market in Africa operating under fear,” he said. “Traders cannot open their shops. Transporters cannot move goods. Apprentices cannot earn daily wages. This is not an abstract debate — this is daily suffering.”
He said the prolonged uncertainty has accelerated capital flight, pushing Igbo entrepreneurs to invest in other regions where business continuity is assured.
“Go to Asaba, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja,” Ogilisi said. “You will see Igbo people building estates, opening factories, running major enterprises. Our people are investing heavily outside the South-East because they want stability. Those investments should be in Aba, Onitsha, Enugu and Owerri. But investors follow predictability, not sentiment.”
The trend, he argued, stands in painful contradiction to the Igbo philosophy of Aku rue Uno — the call to bring wealth and development back home.
“We talk endlessly about Aku rue Uno,” he said. “But how do you bring investment home when home shuts down every Monday? How do you convince anyone to build a factory where production must stop weekly? We are preaching development while dismantling its foundation. We are shooting ourselves in the legs.”
While acknowledging the political grievances that gave rise to the sit-home order, Ogilisi said it has long outlived any constructive purpose and now functions as collective punishment against ordinary people.
“The poorest people suffer the most,” he said. “The woman selling food, the young man riding a motorcycle, the apprentice learning a trade — these are the ones paying the price. Poverty deepens, unemployment grows and frustration spreads. You do not liberate a people by impoverishing them.”
He issued a direct appeal to citizens across the region to reclaim their economic and social space.
“I encourage traders to open their businesses fully,” Ogilisi said. “Let schools open. Let offices function. Let transporters resume work every Monday. The South-East must return to life. Fear cannot be our permanent system of governance.”
Ogilisi was particularly forceful in rejecting the legitimacy of those still threatening violence to enforce sit-home compliance.
“Those threatening people, burning property and forcing shutdowns are not Igbo,” he said. “They are aliens to our values and our culture. The Igbo man builds, trades and educates his children. Anyone determined to bring down the South-East through fear and destruction does not represent us.”
He praised the collective resolve of South-East governors who have chosen to confront the issue directly, describing their stance as courageous and long overdue. He singled out Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, alongside Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Governor Alex Oti of Abia State, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, and Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State.
“These governors deserve credit,” he said. “Leadership is not about popularity. It is about making difficult decisions when the future is at stake. You cannot govern an economy that shuts down every week. Their resolve to act is not only brave; it is necessary.”
He said Governor Soludo’s actions in Anambra reflect a clear understanding of economic fundamentals.
“You cannot build prosperity on fear,” Ogilisi said. “Markets must open, roads must be free and people must work. Professor Soludo understands this, and I fully support his stand.”
Addressing the sensitive issue of Nnamdi Kanu’s continued detention, Ogilisi drew a clear distinction between lawful advocacy and economic destruction. He acknowledged that many Igbo leaders, elders, professionals and organisations — himself included — have worked persistently through legal, political and diplomatic channels to seek Kanu’s release.
“I have been at the forefront of lawful efforts calling for his release,” he said. “Many Igbo leaders have engaged the federal government and the judiciary in good faith. These efforts are ongoing, and they are the right path.”
Crucially, Ogilisi stressed that sit-home was never meant to be permanent and noted that Kanu himself had repeatedly called for an end to it.
“On several occasions, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu courageously called for the sit-home to stop,” he said. “Even recently, from detention, he announced that the sit-home should end. That message must be respected.”
Using continued shutdowns in Kanu’s name, Ogilisi warned, is both dishonest and destructive.
“You do not honour a cause by destroying your own people’s livelihoods,” he said. “You do not strengthen negotiations by collapsing your economy. True struggle preserves dignity, opportunity and life.”
He also challenged the Igbo elite — business leaders, politicians and traditional authorities — to confront their own silence.
“We cannot enjoy comfort in Abuja or Lagos while our homeland bleeds,” Ogilisi said. “History will judge us harshly if we fail to intervene now. Silence is no longer neutral.”
Despite the scale of damage already inflicted, he expressed cautious optimism that the South-East can recover if fear is dismantled and decisive leadership sustained.
“Our people are resilient, innovative and hardworking,” he said. “Give them security and stability and they will rebuild faster than anyone expects. But first, we must open our markets, our schools and our roads. The South-East must breathe again.”
He ended with a warning and a plea.
“If this continues, we risk losing an entire generation of entrepreneurs to other regions,” Ogilisi said. “But if we choose courage over fear now, the South-East can rise again. This is the moment to end the sit-home order and move forward together.”
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