By Stanley Onyekwere
For allegedly selling and taking cannabis otherwise known as indian hemps under a flyover in Wuse area of Abuja, five suspected hoodlums were yesterday apprehended by security operatives attached to the FCTA Taskforce Team.
In particular, the suspects were purportedly caught with wraps of indian hemp, when the Taskforce stormed and raided the area, in continuation of its ongoing clean-up exercise.
Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, while speaking to journalists, decried the illegal use of flyovers, especially the destruction of the flyover by food vendors and others, which poses a serious danger to residents.
He said: “We went round all the bridges in city center, we were very shocked what we saw at the bridges in the center of Abuja, we saw massive settlements, massive business community, eroded soil, we saw the bridge heavily smoked due to the activities of food vendors, welding works and people living there.
“We arrested 5 guys with Indian hemp here, carpenter business, charcoal business all under the bridge. They would be taken for investigation. This is part of Abuja cleanup, and we will sustain the cleanup of Abuja”.
Similarly, Head, Monitoring and Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Kaka Bello, lamented the huge environmental degradation under the flyovers, within city center.
He said public properties that belongs to every residents is being destroyed by few people and this is unacceptable.
“We are here to stop all illegal activities under the bridges. And we have arrested some people and they will be charged to court.
“Apart from degradation, destruction of public properties, we also have issues of insecurity. A lot of miscreants living under the bridge”.
