Nnewi Traders React as Soludo Closes Market Over Sit-at-Home Continuance, "I Lost 3 Close Friends"

• Traders in Nkwo Nnewi market have reacted to the closure of the market by Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra
• Soludo closed down the NASPA section of the market over the failure of traders to open for business on Monday
• While some traders say they would resume Monday businesses, others say they prefer life and safety over business

Traders in the New Auto Spare Parts Association (NASPA) Market, Nkwo Nnewi, Nnewi North local government area of Anambra state, have reacted to the closure of the market by Governor Charles Soludo.

Closure of the market on Monday, February 23, followed low compliance with Governor Charles Soludo's order to end the Monday sit-at-home in Anambra.

The order to close the market was handed down on behalf of the governor by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Trade and Markets, Chief Evarist Uba, who was accompanied by the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, AVM Ben Chiobi (Rtd), and the Nnewi North LGA Mayor, Hon. Echezona Anazodo.

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The governor's representatives advised traders and customers to avoid the market until next Monday, March 2, 2026, to avoid issues with law enforcement agents, and further remarked that the market might face further closure if compliance is not substantial when the market reopens.

The Mayor of Nnewi North local government area, Hon. Echezona Anazodo, and the President of Importers and Stakeholders in the market, Mr. Austin-Emmanuel Jideofor, declined to comment when Legit.ng correspondent reached out to them for reactions on Tuesday, February 24.

Traders' opinions on the sit-at-home policy

However, traders in the market, who spoke to Legit.ng shared varied opinions.

A trader who gave his name as Omemgboji, suggested that traders should mobilise and resume Monday businesses.

Omemgboji, who spoke exclusively with Legit.ng correspondent on Tuesday, February 24, in Nnewi, said,

"Majority of us are not opening businesses on Mondays because of fear, not because we like sleeping at home. Many people, including traders, have lost their lives in this journey."

"Notwithstanding, if traders in this market can agree and start coming to market on Mondays, bad boys can hardly come here to disturb us. It is also important that the government should support us with adequate security. Once that is done, and with the agreement of all the traders, we, or rather, I, as a person, have no problem opening for business on Monday."

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Another trader, who gave his name as Ibeku Stephen, holds a different opinion.

Ibeku said that Soludo should feel free to lock the market down as long as he desires. He said he cannot afford to trade his life for financial gains.

His words,

"My brother, Governor Soludo, should feel free to close all markets in Anambra. That will not force me to go out on Monday. I am from Abia state, and I lost three close friends because of the Monday sit-at-home. Three of them died in Abia state when the Sit-at-Home was very heavy there. Each of them died on a Monday. They left businesses, wives, and children. Since then, I resolved within me that I cannot take that kind of risk until whenever."

Ibeku commended Soludo for the measures he is taking to end the sit-at-home in Anambra, but stated that governors and stakeholders in the southeast have not done enough to resolve issues surrounding it.

He said, "Let me tell you, Igbo governors are not serious about ending sit-at-home, but every day, they will tell us that they've ended it. They will post people dressed in IPOB uniform on social media, and announce that the Monday sit-at-home is over. Then, one may go out there and risk one's life."

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"This issue of sit-at-home is like when you take a man's wife by force; maybe, because you're stronger. You're still with his wife, and you're telling people that you've made peace with the man you took his wife from. The man will pretend that he has made peace with you. Then, he will lure you behind and kill you. The government knows what it will do to resolve the sit-at-home. They simply do not want to do it."

Can Governor Soludo end sit-at-home?

A female trader who also spoke with Legit.ng in Nnewi, encouraged the governor to do everything within his powers to end sit-at-home in Anambra.

Felicia Izuaso said that before her husband died in late 2024, they lost most of their foreign customers, who used to come to Nnewi on weekends and trade with him on Mondays.

"Our customers have diverted to Lagos and other places. We've lost them forever - no thanks to MondaySit-at-Home. I cannot stop regretting any development that led to the sit-at-home. It has cost us a lot, and I will encourage Governor Soludo to stop it by any means possible."

IPOB ends Monday sit-at-home in South-East

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Indigenous People of Biafra permanently cancelled its Monday sit-at-home order across Nigeria’s South-East, following a directive from its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, effective February 9, 2026.

The weekly protest, introduced in August 2021 after Kanu’s rendition, paralysed schools, markets, and businesses every Monday. Reports linked enforcement to hundreds of deaths and trillions of naira in losses across the region.

Source: Legit.ng