Enugu State Governor Dr Peter Mbah has urged residents of the South East region to defy stay-at-home orders issued by Finland-based Autopilot leader Simon Ekpa.

Mbah accused Ekpa of preying on the emotions and sufferings of the Igbo people.

The Governor stated this when he received members of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence during an oversight visit to the state to inspect the construction of the Department of State Services Training Institute in Awgu.

Mbah added that his government is determined to end the illegal stay-at-home orders that have so far been enforced by non-state actors who have held the population hostage both psychologically and economically.

The governor said: “He (Ekpa) creates a kind of siege atmosphere and lives on it to make a living. He continues to extort and exploit our people who may not be aware of it, telling them that he is fighting for their interests.

“How can you claim to love our people, a people who have hard work in our DNA, and sit somewhere and dictate to us when we should and should not go to work? So I also want to use this opportunity to call on our people to ignore this threat. We have shown that we are capable of providing security to our people and we will continue to do so with the help of our security agencies.

“We cannot be intimidated. We cannot submit to this siege atmosphere that he wants to create in the southeast. We cherish our hard work as a people. So you cannot love a people and everything you do is at the cost of their existence, just to gain followers and get cheap publicity.

“I also call on young people not to fall for this kind of cheap nonsense because it goes against our belief system. It goes against our values ​​and it goes against our work ethic.”

The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Ahmed Satomi, also described Mbah as a worthy example to other states in the areas of security and good governance.

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