'How and why we started sit-at-home protest' - Northern Senator reveals

Shehu Sani, the former senator from Kaduna and activist, has reacted to the crisis rocking the southeast region, particularly the sit-at-home order being orchestrated by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Sani, a senator in the 8th Senate, recalled when he and some other activists introduced the sit-at-home strategies during the military regime.

The northern Senator condemned the use of force in enforcing sit-at-home by the IPOB members in the southeast, adding that it showed that there is more beyond the agitations of the people involved.

In a tweet on Monday, July 10, Sani said during his struggle under the military government under the aegis of "Campaign for Democracy", people complied with the sit-at-home policy without being forced, even when many of them (activists) were in prison.

The former senator wrote: "Sit at home is a legitimate and non-violent means of public protest. We adopted that strategy during the years of our struggle against military dictatorship under our group called the Campaign for Democracy. The masses complied in solidarity. Even when some of us were arrested and jailed, there was compliance.

"If you have to use force or violence for people to comply, as it’s now done in the South East, there’s something wrong with your cause or struggle."