By Ijendu Iheaka
An Aba-la-Ohazu
Customary Court has ordered an Aba landlord to pay Abia stategovernment the sum
of N100,000 as fine and an additional N30,000 cost for mismanaging human waste
in his compound.
Igwe Chukwu, the landlord of No. 204 Azikiwe street,
Aba, was arrested Friday morning by Abia State Environmental Protection Agency
(ASEPA) staff and summarily arraigned and tried by an Aba-la-Ohazu customary
Court.
The court found him guilty of burying human waste in
the compound and refusing to mend their damaged sewage system many days after
the agency had written him and the tenants.
Chukwu had told the court that they drew their human
waste from the sewage system and then buried it close to the compound.
Chukwu who had no lawyer said that the Abia State
Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) visited them with a letter last week
and promised to come see them the following day.
“The next day I waited for them for a long time and
when I did not see them, I went to my tailoring work. Then they came when I was
not at home.
“They saw my wife and collected N7,000 from her and
left. Two days later another set came and my wife told them that their members
visited the compound two days earlier and they left.
“They returned again today and were told the same
thing but they demanded money from us and when we did not give them any money,
they dragged us to court”, he told the court.
Dr Ugo Okere, of ASEPA said the crime of Chukwu was
that he and his tenants refused to mend a broken and leaking sewage system many
days after receiving ASEPA’s invitation letter.
Senior Magistrate Diamond Olewengwa while giving the
judgment frowned at the failure of some state agents to be upright in
discharging their duties and condemned the receiving of bribes from offenders.
He asked Chukwu to try identifying the staff of
ASEPA who collected the bribe from them to ensure they were punished.
He further said that the law frowns seriously at the
mismanagement of fecal waste because it was dangerous to human health adding
that the punishment was a heavy fine above N200,000.
Olewengwa therefore ordered them to pay the sum of
N100, 000 fine and another N30, 000 as cost while giving them 3 weeks to mend
their sewage system.
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