Enugu market eruption: Govt appeals for calm, begins investigation

<p>The Enugu State Government says it has commenced an investigation to unravel the circumstance surrounding the violent protest that enveloped Ogbete Main Market in the state capital on Wednesday which led to the death of an unspecified number of persons, while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.</p>, <p>The government in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government Professor Chidiebere Onyia, expressed grave concern over the incident and called on the people and residents of Enugu to remain calm and go about their lawful businesses.</p>, <p>The statement made available to newsmen assured that adequate security measures are in place to secure lives and property in the state.</p>, <p>This is just as the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Ahmed Ammani, has ordered a full-scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s violent protest at Ogbete Main Market.</p>, <p>The Command in a statement signed by Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Daniel Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, DSP, said that the number of people either killed or wounded during the violent protest would be made public as soon as possible</p>, <p>According to the Enugu State Government, the crisis started when traders whose shops were sealed on the orders of the government for non-compliance with the government’s order banning Monday sit-at-home, resorted to reopening their shops without following the rules and procedures enunciated by the government.</p>, <p>Indeed, shortly after assuming office on May 29, Enugu state Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, precisely on June 5, 2023, banned the long-standing Monday sit-at-home in the state ordered by a faction of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB.</p>, <p>The governor similarly ordered civil and public servants in the state to report for work on Mondays, just as he instructed relevant government agencies to seal business premises and shops whose owners failed to open on Mondays.</p>, <p>The statement by the state governm