Demolition: Stop attacking enforcement officers or risk prosecution – ACTDA warns residents

Chinedum Treasure

Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) has warned residents against attacks on its officers while carrying out enforcement duties.

Deputy Commander, Development Control Unit, Mr. Ukachukwu Okonkwo who gave the warning during enforcement exercise within Awka city, stated that culprits risked prosecution with jail terms.

He recalled previous attacks on officers on duty by owners of illegal structures who not only held the officers hostage, but inflicted injuries on them.

He said, “We urge residents to refrain from attacking officers on enforcement because there are dare consequences.

“According to the law, you will be prosecuted and jailed if you attack enforcement officers.

“We have suffered attacks during enforcement. That is why we’re accompanied by security operatives for adequate protection.”

While decrying gradual plots by certain residents to convert residential areas to commercial centers, Okonkwo insisted that the Agency would not be cowed in carrying out its development control mandate until sanity was restored in the city.

“This is a GRA, a residential area but we discovered people are gradually turning the area into commercial area by converting their fences to shops.

“For example, the owner of the first structure we removed built it on top of a soakaway in order to convert his wall to shops. Besides, it’s against the law to build or convert fence wall to building.

“In the second and third buildings, it was the same thing. They are trying to commercialise an area marked as GRA which is not in line with the master plan of that area.

“For this particular building, they are building without approval and what they are erecting is not even approvable.

“If any structure is built there, it will inconvenience neighbors because water from the building will be flowing into the other building.

“We had marked the building during our earlier visit and ordered work to stop but the owner continued, casting rods and pillars, even during nights with searchlights.

“Last time we visited to dismantle the building, they locked us inside, held us hostage and one of them threatened to shoot us. We eventually left there but not without injuries.

“We’re back today to dismantle the building to serve as deterrent to others. We can’t fall to any of their threats because we have the full backing of Mr Governor who insists offenders must face the full wrath of the law,” he added.

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