Abia: Panic as army disrupts sanitation court , frees offenders

A team of suspected Army personnel, on Saturday, stormed the Sanitation Court sitting in Umuahia, freeing a female offender and more than 50 others.

The report has it that a young lady whose identity could not be immediately ascertained was apprehended by operatives of the state Ministry of Environment and taken to the sanitation sitting at the premises of the ministry behind Umuahia Central Stadium.

On arrival, she was said to be rascally and noisy, which led to an altercation between her and an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

According to the source, the lady made a call and “a man, suspected to be a contractor and from Ikwuano LGA arrived in his car with another NSCDC official and some fully armed personnel in military uniforms suspected to be soldiers.”

“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,” the source said.

“They took away the female offender and released all other offenders before the court and flogged anyone within their reach with military belts, while court officials, ministry staff and other security personnel in the courtroom took to their heels,” the source said.

The contractor was quoted while enraged as saying, “the sanitation in Abia is nonsense. People are hungry and they are talking about sanitation. Abia State Government is making a mockery of the exercise.” Punch