Sad news filtered in late the previous week about the death of a former President of the Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA), Hon. Okey Akaneme. He was said to have died from injuries sustained during a violent revenue enforcement operation by agents of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA) last year in Onitsha.
The deceased, according to reports, was attacked in his own home in Onitsha when agents of the Anambra State Government working with the Anambra State Waste Management Agency (ASWAMA), came to his house in Onitsha to collect waste management levy.
According to reports, the ASWAMA agents and armed policemen had stormed his residence without prior notice and demanded payment, refusing the man’s request to dress up before confronting them.
During the confrontation that ensued, Akaneme was reportedly beaten in the presence of his family by the ASWAMA agents, leaving the deceased with a broken spine which left him paralyzed.
He was taken to two hospitals in Anambra before eventually being transferred to the Teaching Hospital in Enugu where he finally gave up the ghost after a protracted struggle. During the period, the Anambra State Government of Chukwuma Soludo had offered to foot his medical bills, perhaps aware that its agents caused the problem. But that could not save the man who has now died.
His death has sparked public outrage against the activities of touts wearing uniforms in the guise of government agents. This comes against the backdrop of the many atrocious acts attributed to the Anambra State Government agents, especially those referred to as Aka Odo People, in Onitsha, the state’s commercial hub, who maim people with pestles in the guise of enforcing payment or punishing offenders.
It is saddening that despite wide scale condemnation of these people’s crude methods, the Anambra State Government has refused to budge and has continued to allow these people to carry weapons, even when they have conventional security personnel accompanying them most of the time.
Many have complained that these crude methods do not sit well with the profile of Gov Chukwuma Soludo as an educated man who is a professor. They have been calling for better means of carrying out enforcements by the said agents, while pointing out that neighbouring states do not employ the kind of approach adopted by the Anambra State Government in either combating the menace of touts or driving revenue.
It was reported that when contacted about the death of Citizen Akaneme, the ASWAMA boss had allegedly dismissed it as old news, an apparent display of arrogance and insensitivity. If true, this is most callous and unfit to have come from a public servant whose agents allegedly caused the death of a citizen. It shows the kind of people that occupy public positions, as well as portraying Nigeria as a country where scant regard is paid to life.
Citizen Akaneme has a family that will now live without him after going through the trauma of seeing their breadwinner beaten and later died. What they need now are not remarks that will deepen their grief but acts that will pacify them and help to ameliorate the pain of their sense of loss.
We are therefore calling on the Anambra State Government to move into action and arrest those behind the ordeal of Citizen Akaneme and also stop any government agent from carrying dangerous weapons. This is apart from adequately compensating the family, and if possibly, training those still in school.
Anambra has passed this level of crudity by government agents or their privies and clearly does not deserve this. Citizen Akaneme should not die in vain. Those behind his ordeal must be brought to book to serve a s a deterrent to others, while Government must henceforth, stop the carrying of weapons by non-state actors masquerading as Government agents. How difficult is this to do?
We pray God to console the family of Citizen Akaneme and grant the deceased a peaceful repose in the bosom of the lord.
