By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Civil servants in Anambra State, Monday, turned up for works in response to governor Chukwuma Soludo's directive that absenteeism from work because of sit-at-home would lead to deductions from defaulters' salaries.
FactcheckNg observed that civil servants were seeing walking and driving to and fro the State Secretariat and Government House on Monday even as the governor and commissioner for Education moved to the hinterlands to monitor compliance among markets and markets.
Soludo, while observing that Onitsha Main Market failed to open, ordered that it should be shut down for one week after which it could be closed for a month if the traders refused to open next week.
He also barricaded the market, ordering that, "The government cannot stand by while a few individuals willfully undermine public safety and disregard official directives meant to restore normalcy, this is plain economic sabotage. We are not going to allow this closure as a protective measure for the law-abiding citizen.
"But his subsequent warning carried the weight of an escalating ultimatum: if the market does not reopen for business after this one-week shutdown, it will be sealed for a month. And so on and so forth. You either decide that you are going to trade here or you go elsewhere. I am very serious about this.
"The strategy is clear: make the cost of compliance with the illegal sit-at-home order higher than the fear that drives it. By targeting the economic heart of the region, the government aims to trigger a collective shift in behavior, betting that the traders’ desire to trade will ultimately outweigh their fear."
Meanwhile the scene of the market has been barricaded by a joint task force of police, army, and other security personnel to safeguard the environment against breakdown of law and order.