By Tony Okafor, Awka
The National Coordinator of the All Progressive Grand Alliance(APGA) Media Warriors’ Forum, Chinedu Obigwe, on Wednesday said the Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, banned Agbero in parks in the state immediately he assumed office on March 17, 2022.
He said many of them had been jailed for various offences and that many of them were facing prosecution.
Obigwe’s reaction came following a request recently by shuttle bus drivers that Agbero should be banned in parks in Anambra State because of their unwholesome and exploitative attitudes.
While sympathizing with the shuttle bus drivers over the loss of one of their members recently, Obigwe said the request had long been implemented by the state government.
He said ,”My reaction to their call on Governor Soludo for a total ban of touts in Anambra State, I will start by telling them that what they are asking for was what the Governor did on assumption of office.”
Obigwe said upon assumption of office, Soludo categorically stated that Agbero was no job and therefore those into it should embrace his administration’s empowerment initiatives to better their lives.
Obigwe’s statement read in part, “When the agbero’s thought that he was joking and disobeyed his directives, he hit them so hard without mercy. The issue of agbero menace is not being handled with kid gloves in Anambra.
“The enforcement unit of AIRS has sent so many of them to prison and they are still going after others. Any unauthorised revenue taskforce agent seen on the street of Anambra State is a criminal and should be treated as such.
“There is a big difference between government authorised revenue taskforce agent and agbero.The authorised revenue taskforce agents are well behaved unlike the criminals impersonating them.”
He said Soludo was waging a successful war against agberos in Anambra, imploring the people of the state to join hands in the fight by providing information on how to apprehend more of the touts so that they would face justice.
He said, ” If you go to prisons in Anambra, you will see many agbero’s serving their punishment there; so
it is wrong for anybody to call on Governor Soludo for a total ban of their( Agbero) activities in Anambra when he had done that already and dealing decisively with the recalcitrant ones among them.
“One thing with Governor Soludo is that he is a man that walks his talk and ndi Anambra should continue supporting him for the completion of the numerous good works he is doing in our State.
He advised drivers to be on the lookout for the culprits so that when they were sighted anywhere in Anambra, they would alert security agents for them to be apprehended and pay for their heinous crime, reemphasizing that the Soludo administration had zero tolerance for the activities of agberos in Anambra and he would continue dealing with them decisively.
