The All Progressive Congress (APC) has fixed its presidential rallies in some states in the South-East geo-political zone on Mondays which residents stay indoors to avoid being assaulted by unknown gunmen patrolling the region.
The sit-at-home exercise began in the Igbo predominant area after Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), was extraordinary renditioned back from Kenya to face terrorism related charges.
The secessionist group issued the order, which was mostly complied with, in protest to the alleged abduction of Mr Kanu who oversees its affairs. It later suspended the exercise but armed men, which the group denied links with, continued to enforce it.
Residents of Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states remain at home on every Monday, paralysing economic and social activities therein.
In its revised timetable, the Presidential Campaign Council of Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling party, fixed its campaign in Imo and Anambra on the day streets are deserted while that of Enugu comes up on Tuesday, November 29, 2022.
The rally in Imo will take place on November 21, 2022 while that of Anambra will come up on January 30, 2023.
Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State has hailed the move he described as a bold step signalling non-tolerance of non-state actors by the former Lagos governor.
“The former governor of Lagos State, national leader of the APC, and presidential candidate for the ruling APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be holding a presidential campaign event in Anambra State on a Monday,” PUNCH quoted him as saying.
“The decision by the former governor of Lagos State to hold a presidential campaign event in Anambra State on a Monday, despite the sit-at-home order in the southeastern part of the country is a bold move, it shows that under Bola Tinubu’s administration, no terrorist group can declare a region ungovernable to the apparatus of the state,” he added.
Spokesmen of the party in the two states were not reachable for comments wether they considered the security implications of their decisions.
