Soldiers on Tuesday prevented traders at the Timber and Building Materials markets in Orlu, Imo State, to open for the day’s business.
Most of the traders in the two markets had on Monday refused to open their shops in solidarity with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing terrorism-related charges at the Federal High court in Abuja.
The soldiers, who were manning a checkpoint close to the two big markets in Orlu, barred the traders from opening their shops for any commercial activity.
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The traders were not allowed to open their shops because they closed operations on Monday in solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was meant to appear at a federal high court in Abuja, a source told TheCable.
The soldiers were said to have asked the traders to “stay at home until the Biafra Republic is attained” before they can resume their trading activities.
The soldiers ordered the gatemen at the entrances of the two big markets not to open the gates.
While the military continued with their stop and search duty in front of the two markets, traders who came as early as 7am met the entrance gates of the two markets under lock and key.
The trader, who didn’t want his identity revealed, said, “Yesterday, almost everybody didn’t open for business in solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu. As we came today, soldiers prevented us from opening the two markets. We didn’t even get into the markets because the gates to the building materials and Timber Market were under lock and key. The soldiers told us that we won’t be allowed to open shop till further notice.”
When contacted on the development, Mike Abatem, police spokesperson in Imo, said he cannot speak on the matter. He said questions should be directed to the army spokesperson in the state.
Babatunde Zubiruo, spokesperson, 34 artillery brigade command in Imo, abruptly ended a telephone conversation after the issue was raised. Subsequent text messages sent to his phone received no response.
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