Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Wednesday warned that anyone caught engaging in human rights abuse in the State will face severe punishment.
He, therefore, warned all agencies and government officials against indulging in any such act.
In a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr G.O.C Ajah, the government said that it neither condones nor encourages abuses or any form of rascality by any of its agencies in the conduct of their official duties.
The statement reads in part, “We are not unmindful of the tendency for some disgruntled elements in the state to plant negative stories in the media and to twist and blow things out of proportion all in a bid to discredit the government.
“The government, however, states that it remains unfazed and undaunted by these unwarranted acts but is instead, fully focused on discharging its obligations to the people of Enugu State.”
Meanwhile, the Enugu State Waste Management Authority (ESWAMA) has denied allegations that its staff attacked and injured two security men at a residential house in Enugu while carrying out an enforcement operation.
The development had prompted a group, the Civil Rights Realization and Advancement Network (CRRAN), to accuse the ESWAMA of keeping a killer squad.
However, reacting through a statement signed by the Managing Director of the Authority, Mr Dom Okonkwo, he described the allegations as ‘false and mischievous’ lamenting that two members of its staff were now unjustly facing prosecution on the strength of the allegations.
He said the allegations were part of a smear campaign being mounted by some people in the state against his agency in a bid to discredit it and prevent it from carrying out its lawful duties.
Giving the agency’s side of the story, Mr Okonkwo, said that contrary to the allegations, two of its staff who had gone to a residential house at Independence Layout, Enugu, to enforce sanitary laws of the state, were actually the ones that were attacked by two security men working in the house.
The ESWAMA Staff, he said, had upon being attacked, followed standard procedure and reported the incident at the Independence Layout Police Station, adding that a police unit was promptly dispatched to arrest the two security men whom according to him, however, escaped before they could be arrested.
The ESWAMA boss said that he was later to learn, much to his surprise, that the police detained his men and charged them to court on charges of assaulting and injuring the security men.
He said, “What happened came to us a shock and a surprise because the case was properly incidented by my staff and the police even went with them to arrest the security men who attacked them but they (security men) escaped. How the story was twisted and my staff suddenly became the suspects and later accused persons in this matter, remains a mystery to me”.
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