Sit-at-home was first initiated by the Eastern people of Nigeria, where everyone was forced to stay indoors on a particular day, mostly Mondays. This action was carried out in solidarity with their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who was arrested by the federal government. The act was widely condemned as it crippled the region’s economy and brought nothing but hardship and backwardness.
However, a version of sit-at-home is now being practiced in Kogi Central, not in solidarity with anyone, but to convey a cultural message of Ododo and Obaji. Unlike the Eastern region, where the sit-at-home is limited to Mondays, Kogi Central enforces a 12-day restriction.
The difference between both regions is striking. In the East, those who enforce this illegality often carry guns to punish violators. In Kogi Central, they move around with canes, violently attacking anyone who disobeys, sometimes breaking heads, clearly a brutal method of enforcement.
The Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and culture, but not at the expense of others’ rights or public safety. The law allows for reasonable limitations to ensure that everyone’s fundamental human rights are respected and protected.
Unfortunately, some of the cultural practices in Kogi Central violate this law. The culture in question fosters and encourages societal violence, oppression, and barbarism, breaching the fundamental human rights of others, especially those of different faiths.
Shockingly, the oppressors have the support of some elders, elites, political leaders, and royal fathers, simply because they or their loved ones are not directly affected by the culture. The oppression is reserved for the voiceless and the commoners in society. Whenever oppressed individuals raise complaints to these leaders, they are told to “stay indoors” during the Eche Ane festival, a celebration that lasts for 12 days, 3 days in Ihima, and 9 days in Okene, Eika, and Adavi.
What does this mean in practice?
It means:
Daily hawkers, whose survival depends on street sales, must stay at home.
School teachers and students without personal vehicles must stay at home.
Hospital staff and even pregnant women due for antenantal care without personal transportation must stay at home.
Commercial bike riders and market women without vehicles must also sit at home.
So, what are your provisions for these people you’re asking to remain indoors?
Because some privileged individuals own cars for themselves and their families, or because they live outside the land, they see nothing wrong in supporting a form of oppression that affects those who cannot afford even the basic needs of life, let alone a car to shield them from masquerade brutality.
The elites and leaders never consider the less privileged who roam the streets of Ebiraland in search of drinking water. These same elites have boreholes inside their locked compounds while they reside comfortably in Abuja. Many do not even install a public tap on their fences for others to fetch water.
It is important to note that most of the crises witnessed in Ebiraland have been sponsored by elites and leaders who no longer reside in the community. They make decisions that hurt the poor, while they and their families remain unaffected.
– Engr Ira Habib writes from Kogi state.
