Human rights activist and social critic Senator Shehu Sani has criticized the brutal enforcement of the weekly sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the south-eastern region of Nigeria.
Writing on his official Twitter handle on Monday afternoon, Mr. Shehu revealed that an advocacy group, Campaign for Democracy, deployed the same tactics during their struggle for democracy in the days of military dictatorship, saying that the entire nation solidarized with the group by staying at home.
While the former senator agrees that the form of protest being adopted by the proscribed group is legitimate, he, however, condemned the use of violence in enforcing it.
In his words: “Sit at home is a legitimate and non-violent means of public protest. We adopted that strategy during the years of our struggle against military dictatorship, under our group called the Campaign for Democracy. The masses complied in solidarity. Even when some of us were arrested and jailed, there was compliance.
“If you have to use force or violence for people to comply, as it’s now done in the Southeast, there’s something wrong with your cause or struggle.”
Visitodell recalls that a disturbing video appeared on social media last week, purportedly from Enugu State, showing unidentified men violently destroying the goods of traders in a local market.
