Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has banned the sit-at-home order in the state while calling on President Bola Tinubu to release the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.

Mbah made this known while briefing journalists on the outcome of his first security council meeting with the heads of all the security agencies at the Government House, Enugu State.

The sit-at-home, declared in the South-East to press for Kanu’s release, the governor noted, has impeded economic activities.

“Consequently, from Monday, June 6, 2023, there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State,” he said on Thursday.

Governor Mbah noted that his “government will enforce this with all the powers at its disposal”.

While assuring stakeholders of dialogue, the governor urged Enugu residents “to take back our sense of industry, pride of place and re-enact our glorious past. By heeding this call, you would have set us on the path of actualising our mandate”.

Calling on President Tinubu to release Kanu to quicken the much-needed healing process in Nigeria, he said the development will be a stretching of hands of fellowship to the South-East region.

“Let me also call on our newly sworn-in president, His Excellency Bola Tinubu, to consciously work towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We believe that his release will expedite the healing process Nigeria needs at this time,” Governor Mbah said. “It will also be a pointer to his administration’s extension of brotherly hands of fellowship to Ndigbo.”

Kanu has been in detention since 2021 and despite repeated pleas for his release, the government of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari failed to do so.