Security operatives on Tuesday barricaded major entrances to the Onitsha Main Market as they enforced the one-week closure ordered by the state government over the market’s failure to discontinue the sit-at-home directive.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra gave the order on Monday in Onitsha shortly after his unscheduled visit to the market.
NAN reports that security personnel were seen moving around the area, while several security vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers and Hilux vans, were used to block strategic locations across the market.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Law Mefor, in a statement on Monday, disclosed that the continuous Monday sit-at-home costs the Anambra government about N8 billion weekly and the South-East region N19.6 billion.
The security personnel prevented traders from entering the market premises while the shops remained locked.
Traders and others who had come to do business in the market were seen loitering around, watching the security operatives.
Some of the traders who had come to the market were seen gathered at various points discussing and analysing the development.
Some of the traders who spoke on the conditions of anonymity said that the present decision of the governor was capable of endangering the lives of the innocent citizens.
They, however, appealed to the governor to reconsider his decision to keep the market sealed for one week.
Speaking on the development, the Anambra Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, reaffirmed the commitment of security operatives to maintaining law and order and securing life and property at all costs.
Ikenga maintained that the situation at the Onitsha Main Market was peaceful and calm as people were moving around freely. (NAN)
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