From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
The Abia State Government, penultimate weekend, moved against criminals occupying the Aba River bank, in the commercial city of Enyimba.
This came as the people of Umuejea Umunna Nvosi, in Isiala Ngwa South Council Area of the state, restated their resolve to work closely with security agencies in ridding their area of drug vendors, criminals and their likes.
People scampered for safety as government’s bulldozers moved into the sprawling slum that over the years served as safe haven for criminals.
In fact, every illegal occupant of the area was flushed out after several notices for them to vacate were ignored.
Governor Alex Otti had ordered the clearance and demolition of shanties at the Aba River bank to drive out suspected criminal elements in the area and for proper work to begin for the reconstruction of the abandoned Enyimba Hotel.
The joint operation was executed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Operation Crush, in collaboration with the Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA).
Assistant commandant Emma Ogbuehi, who represented the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Commander McDonald Ubah (retd), said the governor authorised that all illegal structures and shanties within the Enyimba Hotel be demolished to pave way for the recovery of the hotel.
Ogbuehi said that aside from the soon-to-be-recovered Enyimba Hotel, reducing the activities of criminal elements in the area to the barest minimum was also another reason for the demolition in the environs of the Aba River bank.
He explained that even though the demolition was a one-off thing, the joint security team would maintain a presence in the area to ensure that the criminal elements did not return to the area anymore.
Ogbuehi stated that the Enyimba Hotel and its environs were originally designed to be a beautiful tourist centre, with the river banks forming something in the mode of a beach where recreation activities were expected to take place.
He explained that the demolition exercise was not an impromptu one, as those illegally occupying the place either as a business centre or residency had been warned severally to vacate the location, but the order was ignored.
Ogbuehi said efforts were in top gear to ensure that Abia continued to enjoy the peace it had been known for, hence, work will always be intensified to ensure that all residents and visitors enjoyed a peaceful and serene environment.
Elsewhere, youths engaging in illicit drug peddling, kidnapping and other criminal activities were asked by Umuejea Umunna Nvosi, in Isiala Ngwa South Council, to leave the trade or vacate the neighbourhood.
Stakeholders of the community recently re-echoed their New Year resolution, noting that it was in tandem with the call by Otti, that leaders of communities discovered to be abetting and supporting criminal activities, drug abuse, youth restiveness, armed banditry and other vices were clearly working against the peace of the state and will be sanctioned.
Daily Sun gathered that the community’s resolution was communicated to government, security agencies – the police, Department of State Services (DSS), NDLEA, NAFDAC, and Isiala Ngwa South Council, among others.
The people of Umuejea said they had resolved “to encourage one another to live and co-exist in a peaceful village environment, and advising those habouring persons whose identities are not known, to, as a matter of need, ask such individuals to make themselves known publicly, alongside their occupations and mission in the village, or be prepared to be asked to leave.”
They also directed that “persons, especially youths, dealing in drugs and related questionable businesses that are not approved by the laws of the country and our immediate society, should stop or relocate to other lands in order not to incur the wrath of the people.
“While the community (Umuejea) will readily welcome and encourage establishment of businesses and trades that will help boost its socioeconomic development and wellbeing of its people, those that tend to pose threat or create avenues for acrimony or strife leading to lack of peace, will not be allowed.”
Those who signed the resolution included the community’s Eze-in-Council, development association, village head, professional bodies, youth and women leaders, among other stakeholders.