By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Clems Aguiyi, has dismissed reports that about 20 armed men allegedly stormed Goodness and Mercy Mass Transit Limited Park at Upper Iweka, Onitsha, assaulted its chairman and workers, and forcibly took away a female toilet operator.
Aguiyi described the report as false, questioning the source of the alleged armed men.
“Such a thing never happened. 20 armed men from where?” he queried.
The commissioner, in a statement reacting to the report, said some cabals, allegedly working in collaboration with powerful insiders, had forcefully taken control of public toilets across Anambra State and were enriching themselves from the proceeds.
He said the situation predated his assumption of office on May 18, 2026, adding that the groups had also allegedly deployed miscreants and hoodlums to intimidate Environmental Health Officers of the ministry and prevent them from carrying out their statutory responsibilities.
According to him, efforts by the ministry to engage the alleged operators had been unsuccessful.
Aguiyi cited Sections 352, 352(2) and 352(3) of the Anambra State Environmental Management, Protection and Administration Law, 2024, as the legal basis for the ministry’s intervention.
He said the provisions vested exclusive jurisdiction in the Ministry of Environment over the regulation and management of public toilets within the state.
He further cited Section 352(3), which he said requires any person, entity or organisation seeking to establish, operate or manage public toilets to obtain prior authorisation and comply with requirements stipulated by the ministry.
“I do not know the precedent or law from which these cabals, who forcefully seized public toilets and operate same without recourse, derived their authority,” he said.
The commissioner maintained that the ministry, under his leadership, had demonstrated the courage to enforce the law and recover government-owned public toilets to ensure that they were properly maintained and served the public.
He described the publication on the alleged invasion as a sponsored media attack, saying he was not surprised by what he termed media hatchet jobs against the ministry.
“When you fight corruption, corruption fights back,” he stated.
Reacting specifically to the photograph of the female toilet operator, identified in the report as Ifeyinwa, who was seen wearing a torn camouflage singlet, Aguiyi said he intended to publish two photographs to enable the public to draw their own conclusions.
