Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, says his administration has “won the actual war against sit-at-home enforcers” in the state.
Speaking with journalists on Saturday, Mbah said the perpetrators “have now resorted to scaremongering, peddling of fake news, and all manner of dramas to instil fear in our people and control their minds and actions”.
On Friday, the Enugu police command said its operatives dislodged a group of hoodlums enforcing the sit-at-home in the state.
Daniel Ndukwe, the command’s spokesperson, said four lifeless bodies of the hoodlums were discovered in a forest after a gun duel.
Reacting after the police clampdown, Mbah described the sit-at-home enforcers as individuals “out to destroy Enugu state and Igboland”.
He urged residents of the state not to “allow those who do not have the mandate of the people dictate for us how to live our lives”.
“The truth is that we have won the actual war against sit-at-home enforcers and murderers out to destroy Enugu state and Igboland,” Mbah said.
“We have unleashed the security resources on them, and they have been thoroughly defeated and discomfited.
“We practice democracy. We can never allow murderers and terrorists to dictate to us. We must not allow those who do not have the mandate of the people to dictate to us how to live our lives; when to go out, when to close our businesses and when to sit at home.
“What we are facing now are media terrorists using social media to instigate fear and peddle fake news. We must not allow them to succeed. It is totally unacceptable. Nobody can make you inferior without your consent. These hoodlums are very few compared to our numbers. We cannot be taking instructions from hooligans.
“We must not allow those without our mandate to tell us how to live our lives. We have a duty to ensure that we flush them out in all directions. They have no stake in the affairs of our state.
“It is, therefore, our responsibility to re-orientate our people to start coming out and going about their normal businesses. We have a duty to kill fake news and counter it with our superior pen and media.
“Therefore, as we are leaving here, we must begin to tell our people the right thing; that nobody can make them inferior without their consent; that we can’t be cowed by the cowardly acts of a few people.”
Mbah added that sit-at-home enforcers are “separate” from the call for the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“As media people, it is important you educate our people for them to know that these sit-at-home enforcers are not after Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s welfare or freedom. We must be able to separate the two,” the governor said.
“Ndigbo are on one page in demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu. I have also seen the president over this matter. Other Igbo leaders have made the same demand, and we are not relenting.”