With the worsening state of insecurity in Nigeria’s South East, all attention appears to be currently focused on developments in the region.

The activities of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), numerous reports of attacks on key infrastructure and killings of police officers form part of the reasons for apprehension experienced across the region. And with Sunday’s assassination of Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential adviser while on assignment to Imo, the level of fear has expectedly sky-rocketed.

This will further manifest on Monday, 31st May 2021, as residents of the South East region deserted the streets and business places following a Sit-at-home order issued by proscribed group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Although the order has since 2017 (Biafra’s 50th Anniversary) been a regular activity heralding the annual Biafra Remembrance Day, this year’s took a dramatic turn as it witnessed massive compliance in the 5 states in the region, and parts of Delta State in South-South Nigeria.

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Adherence to the order paralysed economic and commercial activities as businesses, schools, and other major economic hubs were shut while vehicular movements were also grounded. The development has thus provoked burning questions.

Away from the negative perception of Igbos been a divided people, are they now sending a strong message to other Nigerians?

Are young Igbos, perhaps now armed with history more convinced than ever on the need to honour the heroes of the defunct Biafra Nation on a day as this?

Will it be safe to assume that Nnamdi Kanu’s proscribed IPOB and its cause is gaining increasing acceptance?

Or Did Nigerians across the South East stay home for their own safety?

Whichever option one may choose, what it is undeniable is the fact put forward by a Twitter user in reaction to the Sit at home; “when the state can not provide security for its people, the people have no choice than to obey those who can cause havoc at the slightest provocation.”

There’s been so much talk about Plan B in the country lately, and with the call for citizens to be prepared for escape, any discerning Nigerian would adopt the siddon look approach to avoid been casualty to a country that wouldn’t even honour soldiers fighting to protecting it’s sovereignty.

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Amidst all, one point that can’t be taken away from this year’s commemoration of the 54th Biafra State Anniversary is that perhaps, a #SitAtHome order can serve as an effective on-ground protest for a just cause. A lot of people abandoned their businesses to pay respect to their kinsmen whose lives were laid down in protecting their interest even before they were born; and families lost to the Biafran War described in some quarters as a genocide. This is indeed a huge sacrifice to be paid by citizens of an entity where the value of human life continues to take a dive daily.

Most critically, the people of the South East (especially those who are pro-Biafra) must continue to advance their cause through peaceful and constitutional means in order to de-escalate the atmosphere of tension that currently pervades the entire region. They must condemn all forms of wanton destruction of both lives and infrastructure and resist any form of action that could provoke a second civil war and dangerous unrest.

Peace will only thrive in an atmosphere of justicee. Hence, the overall cause and cry for justice must not be lost on the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari who presides over a sharply divided country at the moment. A

Hearkening to this cry would mean that a listening ear and the tool of dialogue must not appear as ‘daydreaming’ for the ‘marginalised’ people of the South East.