ONITSHA — Commercial activities in Onitsha Main Market improved slightly on Monday, February 9, 2026, following the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) directive ending the weekly Monday sit-at-home across the South-East.
Observations indicated that about 70 percent of traders returned to their shops, reopening businesses that had remained closed the previous week. However, customer turnout, particularly from outside Anambra State, remained low, as major roads linking Onitsha to neighbouring states were still quiet.
Some traders reportedly stayed away from the markets themselves, sending apprentices—locally known as Umu Boi—to conduct business on their behalf. Fear over attacks by hoodlums who had previously enforced the sit-at-home orders lingered among traders in markets such as Onitsha Main Market, Ochanja Central Market, Bridge Head Market, Ogwu Medicine Market, Building Material Market Ogidi, New Motor Spare Parts Market, and Ngbuka Obosi Motor Spare Parts Market.
IPOB’s Sunday directive, issued by its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, calling for the resumption of normal activities, appeared to encourage traders to return. Surrounding markets, including Sokoto Road Market, Biafra Market, Marine Market, Ose Okwodu Market, and Bida Road Market, also reopened but witnessed minimal customer patronage.
Justin Igwe, a trader in Marine Market, said, “I didn’t go to the market because we are still afraid, but my boys went. Customers from within and outside the state are not coming.”
Early Monday, vehicular movement was limited, with commercial buses and tricycles absent until around 10:30 a.m., forcing some traders to return home. Okwudili Okoye, a trader at Onitsha Main Market, noted, “Traders opened their shops, but we have no customers, especially from outside the state. We need ways to encourage customers to return on Mondays.”
The situation reflects lingering skepticism among both traders and customers despite the official call to resume normal economic activities.
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