Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Wednesday issued a fresh warning to traders defying the government’s directive to open markets on Mondays, vowing to revoke shop ownership and reallocate stalls to willing operators if the sit-at-home persists.
Soludo, who described the action as “economic sabotage,” said the cost of the weekly shutdown was crippling the broader economy, insisting that it was not about tax losses but the devastating impact on traders, families and education.
“Monday is the most important day of the week.
If we continue like this, our economy will continue to come down. We can’t train our children in a school system that runs four days a week,” the governor said.
He added that the losses were not driven by revenue shortfalls from markets such as Onitsha, which he said generated “pittance,” but by the damage to livelihoods and business confidence across the state.
Soludo accused unnamed politicians of sponsoring the sit-at-home to score political points, warning that the government would soon expose those behind the action.
“Some politicians are involved and they think it’s politics. It is not about politics. It is about security, the interest and future of our state. It is about our prosperity and the poor people who must go out before they can feed,” he said.
He declared that 2026 would mark a decisive push against the disruption, stressing that the state had moved from combating insecurity in 2022 and 2023 to launching an offensive against criminal elements in 2024 and 2025, which, he claimed, had made Anambra one of the safest states in Nigeria.
“This 2026 is for fighting sit-at-home. It is either they open their shops or we revoke their ownership,” Soludo said.
The governor warned that traders who continued to shut their shops would be asked to present documents of ownership, which he said would be personally scrutinised, adding that many such documents were questionable.
“For those shouting, ‘show me the law where you can close our shops,’ I will show it to them. I will also show them the law that empowers me to revoke that market and use it for whatever is better for the state,” he stated, adding that affected markets could even be repurposed for security infrastructure if necessary.
He said the government would begin recertification of shops within the next two weeks, noting that demand for stalls in major markets remained high.
“A lot of people want shops in that market, so if you are not ready to open shops, go elsewhere. We will revoke your shops and give them to people who are willing to open,” he said.
Soludo appealed to traders to cooperate with the government, stressing that the sit-at-home policy was hurting ordinary citizens more than the state, while vowing that the administration would not back down in enforcing compliance.
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