A group of suspected military soldiers invaded the Umuahia Sanitation Court on Saturday, freeing a female accused and more than 50 others.
It has been reported that operatives from the state Ministry of Environment apprehended a young woman whose name could not be readily confirmed and brought her to sanitation sitting on the premises of the ministry behind Umuahia Central Stadium.
There were reports of her being rowdy and disruptive upon her arrival, culminating in a confrontation with a Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps member.
The woman called for help, and “a man, suspected to be a contractor and from Ikwuano LGA, appeared in his car with another NSCDC official and some fully armed individuals in military clothing suspected to be soldiers,” as the source puts it.
“Though they didn’t fire any gunshot, they could have fired. They scattered all our record books and documents, except the one with the Presiding Magistrate, Her Worship Ndidi Alozie,” according to our source.
The source added that court officials, ministry workers, and other security officers in the courtroom fled. “They took away the female offender, released all other offenders before the court, and flogged anyone within their reach with military belts.”
The contractor’s irate ranting about the “nonsense” that is Abia’s sanitation system was reported. “People are hungry, and they are talking about sanitation. Abia State Government is making a mockery of the exercise.”
The insider said this is not the first time this has happened; the sanitation court may soon be moved into the state High Court building.
It was then reported that Commissioner Sam Wogu, who had been monitoring the exercise, had spoken out against the occurrence in the presence of news reporters at the Umuahia North Council headquarters.
Barr Wogu, through his Deputy Director of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Mrs Ihuaku Maduka, confirmed that the alleged soldiers who came to rescue their female friend from the Abia State ministry of environment’s sanitation court harassed people with guns and flogged people with a cane, prompting other defaulters to flee.
While he called the military commanders’ actions to sabotage government initiatives sad, the Commissioner also stated that this was not the first time such a thing had happened.
Abians, meantime, have continued to criticise the new time window for the exercise, which was moved by the current administration from 6 to 10 am to 9 to 11 am because it allows more people to idle around.
The PUNCH has obtained a copy of the ministry’s internal “Mood Report,” which reads, “This is to inform you that on November 26, 2022, during the Environmental Clean-up. One man from Ikwuano (alleged to be a contractor known to be moving with military personnel) came to the sanitation Court in the Ministry of Environment, where the Sanitation Mobile Court sits during the sanitation exercise with three Hilux carrying well-armed military personnel.
“They beat up a prison official, harassed court officials and everyone with their guns.
“They released all the defaulters and chased everyone away from the court before leaving with a lady arrested by the civil defence enforcement team brought to the sanitation court for prosecution.”