Okey Maduforo 
…as businessmen desert Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi for Lagos
At least N25 billion is being lost by businessmen in the South East each day the stay-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is carried out, New Telegraph has learnt. Consequent upon this development, businessmen and women in the region have been lamenting the loss of patronage as their customers now do business in Lagos for fear of being attacked by the group. This is coming as a First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, expressed disappointment over what he called the manner in which IPOB is handling the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, noting that some people appear to be making money from the case. Amaechi has threatened to pull out of the negotiation for the release of Kanu if things remain the same way, adding that the body has failed to respect the efforts of Igbo elders in their bid to secure the release of the IPOB leader.
Similarly, a group known as Igbo Business Forum (IBF) yesterday urged IPOB not to use the Biafran struggle to destroy the economy of the South- East, warning that the North-East and North Central are celebrating over the situation in the area. According to a spokesman for the group, Chief Ndubuisi Ehibundu, who spoke with journalists in Awka, Anambra State capital, he lamented that between Monday and Thursday this week the region has lost at least N100 billion, noting also that the development is already having a negative effect on the region. Ehibundu said: “How can someone decide to ruin the economy of his people because of a struggle; and come to think of it, they are not more Biafran than us.
“You tell people to stay at home when you have nothing to manage the effect of hunger in the land and for those of us in the business sector, we loose an average of N25 billion in Onitsha alone and I believe we also lose the same in Aba, Nnewi and others; and this is not good for our economy.”