Traders in Onitsha Take to Streets After Soludo’s One-Week Market Closure

Anger and frustration boiled over in Onitsha, Anambra State, this week as traders and residents protested the temporary closure of the city’s bustling main market.

On Monday, Governor Chukwuma Soludo directed that Onitsha Main Market remain shut for one week to enforce compliance with state policies aimed at ending the Monday “sit-at-home” order that has repeatedly slowed commerce in the region. 

In the days that followed, groups of market traders gathered and marched through the city’s streets, holding placards and singing protest songs. Voices captured in videos circulating online show protesters shouting slogans rejecting the shutdown and, in some instances, chanting the name of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

By Wednesday, tensions had escalated as protesters blocked the Onitsha Head Bridge a major connection between Anambra and Delta states bringing traffic to a standstill. Demonstrators were seen barricading entrances and chanting “No way in, no way out” and variations of “Soludo, we no go gree o,” signalling their refusal to accept the closure.

Authorities had deployed security personnel to enforce the closure, but traders said the government’s move was heavy-handed and harmful to the economy. Some also tied their outrage to broader grievances, including economic hardship and frustrations over the ongoing sit-at-home situation.

As protests continue, Governor Soludo has stood firm on the decision, describing the sit-at-home practice as a form of economic sabotage and insisting that the market must operate through the week to restore normal trading activities. 

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