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Newspaper vendors in Awka, the capital of Anambra State, have embarked on indefinite strike following alleged harassment by the state government.
The Eastern Updates reports that there has been a raging battle between the vendors and the Awka Capital Territory Development Agency (ACTDA), whose officials have vowed to stop vendors from displaying newspapers in places they termed unapproved corners.
Following the alleged harassment, the vendors petitioned the police and the Department of State Service (DSS).
The Eastern Updates gathered that following the petition by the newspaper vendors, the DSS invited both parties for a dialogue, but ACTDA officials failed to attend the reconciliation meeting.
In a surprise move, they went to the popular Aroma junction and confiscated all the newspapers and destroyed the vendors’ tables.
One of the vendors said that when they went to the ACTDA office to complain about the development, the head of administration said that the taskforce team did not bring the confiscated newspapers to the office.
She said that outside the ACTDA office, a member of the taskforce told her that they had given the newspapers out for wrapping Suya to meat sellers.
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The ACTDA official also boasted that they would never allow the vendors to display newspapers in Awka city despite appeals by journalists and other people in the state capital.
Angered by the development, the vendors decided to go on strike, abandoning all the newspapers brought to Anambra State on Friday.
Consequently, a pressure group, under the aegis of Forum of Labour Party 2023 House of Assembly Candidates, took a swipe at the action of the state government, describing it a display of ‘dictatorial’ tendencies.
The group, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Hon. Humphrey Iloh, advised Governor Charles Soludo to desist from further “humiliation, intimidation, impoverishing and killing of people of the state.”
The group said that the advice followed recent destruction of newspaper stands and beating of newspaper vendors in Awka, as well as alleged killing of Mr Arinze Obuladike, a drug dealer at Ogbo-ogwu, Onitsha, by the Special Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad (SASA).
The group threatened to compel the House of Assembly to commence impeachment process on Governor Soludo, if the ugly trend continues.
The statement of the group reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to trending news with pictorial and video evidences on social media of Prof. Soludo-led government destroying newspaper stands and beating of newspaper vendors in Awka, on Thursday, February 15, 2024.
“Also, on Friday, February 16, 2024 at Ogbo-ogwu in Onitsha; the alleged brutal killing of one Mr Arinze Obuladike, a drug dealer at Ogbo-ogwu, a resident of Iyiowa Odekpe, in Ogbaru LGA and indigene of Okija in Ihiala Council Area, all in Anambra State; by Special Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad (SASA), a government agency that does not have the legal authority to bear arms or engage in violent acts as seen in the circulating vidoes.
“We the members of the Forum of Labour Party 2023 House of Assembly Candidates condemn in its entirety these double tragic and unfortunate acts by Prof Soludo-led government and other previous actions, which is a clear indication that Anambra State is now under a dictatorial regime.
“The Anambra State of today is not the friendly and peaceful Anambra that the previous governments left for Prof Charles Soludo.
“His current style of governance is totally against Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.
“We advise the Soludo-led government to desist from further humiliation, intimidation, impoverishing and killing of Ndi-Anambra.
“Otherwise, we would be left with no option than to approach the court and seek for an order to compel the House of Assembly to commence impeachment process on the governor, to rescue Ndi-Anambra from this dictatorial regime.”
When contacted, the spokesman for the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Mr Tony Olisa, described the LP group’s assertions as “baseless” and intended to discredit the Soludo administration.
Olisa said: “The claims of the destruction of newspaper stands and beating of vendors in Awka on February 15, 2024, are entirely false.
“Our government upholds the freedom of the press and respects the rights of all individuals to conduct their businesses without fear or favour.
“The incident in Ogbo-ogwu, Onitsha, on February 16, 2024, involving the alleged killing of one Mr Arinze Obuladike by the Special Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad, is baseless.
“The SASA, which the Labour Party Forum acknowledged does not bear arms, couldn’t have shot a stray bullet killing the said drug dealer.
“SASA operates within the confines of the law and does not engage in extra-judicial activities. The Labour Party Forum should desist from politicising the incident. We condemn the spread of misinformation and the attempt to discredit our government with unfounded allegations.
