Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo’s one-week closure of the Onitsha Main Market and other adjoining markets over their failure to adhere to his directive to jettison the Monday sit-at-home order, amounts to criminalization of victims.
This is according to Civil Society Organizations, who have weighed in on the matter.
Recall that the governor had on Monday, during a visit to the market, announced the closure of the markets for an initial one week, threatening to extend the closure if nothing changes.
Reacting to the development on Wednesday in a chat with our correspondent in Awka, the Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma regretted that the standoff between the Anambra Government and traders at the Onitsha Main Market provides yet another troubling context for the persistent violation of human rights and the shrinking of civic space in Nigeria’s Southeast.
Acknowledging that the weekly sit-at-home has had a damaging impact on the economy of the Southeast, with traders, artisans, transporters, and workers among its primary victims, Nwanguma insisted that it would be wrong and unjust to ignore the critical factor driving compliance, which is fear.
“This fear is legitimate. When traders defy sit-at-home orders issued by separatist agitators and enforced by criminal elements, they are often attacked, intimidated, or killed.
“Over the years, security agencies have failed to provide consistent and effective protection to citizens who choose to go about their lawful businesses on sit-at-home days. In this context, compliance is not an exercise of free will but a survival strategy,” he said.
The RULAAC boss observed that blaming and punishing traders for staying away from their shops under such circumstances amounts to subjecting them to double jeopardy.
He noted, “First, they suffer the consequences of insecurity and the economic hardship it brings. Second, they are punished by the state for actions compelled by fear arising from the state’s failure to fulfill its most basic constitutional duty: the protection of lives and property. The state cannot lawfully or morally punish victims for the consequences of its own failure.”
Nwanguma said the governor’s decision to seal the Onitsha Main Market and threaten prolonged closure or demolition was a grossly disproportionate and punitive response, criminalizing vulnerability instead of addressing the root causes of the problem, which include persistent insecurity, weak intelligence-led policing, and the absence of public confidence in the state’s ability to protect law-abiding citizens.
He equally described as disturbing, the posture of the police authorities in issuing warnings against protests, insisting that the police have no power to ban protests or to require citizens to seek permission before exercising their democratic rights.
Acknowledging that Governor Soludo may be motivated by a desire to restore economic activity and public order in the state, Nwanguma said good intentions do not excuse rights-violating methods, while enforcement of order must be guided by a human rights-based approach.
He advocated engagement, instead of escalation, adding that the Anambra State Government should meaningfully engage with traders’ unions, market leaders, civil society organisations, and security agencies to jointly develop a credible, confidence-building strategy to address the menace of sit-at-home in a sustainable way.
“Until citizens are genuinely protected from reprisals by violent non-state actors, attempts to force compliance through punishment will only deepen resentment, exacerbate fear, and further shrink civic and economic space in the Southeast.
“A democratic government must never punish people for being afraid when it has failed to make them safe,” Nwanguma said,
The Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society (CEHRAWS), Chuka Okoye, while endorsing any decisive government action against criminal elements enforcing illegal sit-at-home orders, cautioned against collective economic punishment of innocent traders whose compliance is largely driven by fear, not defiance.
According to him, punitive market closures risk deepening poverty, worsening hardship, and undermining constitutional guarantees of livelihood, dignity, and economic participation.
The CEHRAWS urged the State Government to prioritise security confidence over economic coercion, through sustained joint security patrols across markets and transport routes, intelligence-driven operations against violent enforcers, and structured engagement with market unions and community leaders.
“Markets function where people feel safe, not threatened. Ending the sit-at-home crisis requires security assurance, not administrative force.
“We call for a balanced, rights-respecting, and people-centred approach that protects lives, restores confidence, and safeguards livelihoods,” Okoye said.
