The rumour that the Abia State Government had ordered northerners who lived and conducted their businesses at Lokpanta cattle market, along the Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt motorway by Umunneochi, to leave the state, was debunked as untrue by Macdonald Ubah, the governor of Abia State’s special adviser on security.
The retired naval commander gave a press conference at Government House in Umuahia and noted that the Lokpanta-Uturu axis of the state has been under siege by criminal elements for a number of years. This has led to the state government’s recent major initiatives to end the wave of kidnappings and other criminal activities in the area.
Abia Govt Reacts To Alleged Quit Notice To Northerners In Cattle Market
According to the security assistant, early research indicated that the Lokpanta Cattle Market was a major hiding place for a variety of people engaged in criminal activity, including kidnappings, organ harvesting, armed robberies, and other violent crimes.
According to Ubah, ransoms for kidnapping victims in the Uturu-Umunneochi axis were paid in the market. This led the authorities to take intentional action, including demolishing brothels and shanties in the market, among other steps.
The majority of the cattle dealers in the state are second and third generation Igbo, thus the Governor Otti-led government could not have issued such a mandate, according to Ubah, who described Governor Alex Otti as a detribalized Nigerian for having non-Abians in his cabinet.
According to him, the government’s position is still that the market will cease to be residential and become a daily market.
Cattle Market In Our Place Is Not A Blessing, But A Curse — Abia Monarch
The retired navy officer said that the administration of Abia State made the Lokpanta Cattle Market a daily market because it was in the best interests of the people and the cattle traders, and that decision will not be reversed.
He revealed to journalists that he had twice met with the union leaders of the market to advise them of the government’s plan to make the market daily for security purposes.
He emphasised that neither a plan nor a directive to remove northerners from Lokpanta had been given by the current Abia State government, as indicated in the fabricated story.
Follow us on Facebook
Post Disclaimer
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.