Many traders at the Onitsha Main Market stayed away from their stalls on Monday despite Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s order to reopen and warnings against further closures, witnesses and officials said.
Soludo ordered a one-week closure after traders again complied with a long-running “sit-at-home” directive, describing the practice as “a criminal enterprise that is no longer connected to the agitation” and promising strict action if shops remained shut.
“This main market, if you don’t want it open, I will come and take a bulldozer and level it. Are you hearing me? … I’m very, very serious about it,” he said.
Market leaders earlier told the governor they were ready to resume Mondays if security improved.
“We have resolved to be opening for full activities on Monday,” said Chijioke Okpalugo, chairman of Onitsha Main Market, while appealing for a visible, sustained security presence.
State officials formally directed traders to return Monday, saying the closure “lapses this weekend” and warning parents to send children to school; the government also said pro-rata pay rules for absent civil servants remain in force to discourage absenteeism.
Despite the order and heavy security at market gates, reporters and video from the scene showed only limited activity and “a few hopefuls” coming around to shop.
An "attendance list" containing only 17 names and attributed to Gov. Soludo's orders has also circulated online highlighting the tension between traders’ fears, defiance and the state’s push to restore normal commerce.
