A group, Concerned Citizens of Abuja, has appealed to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, to stop what it described as unwarranted evacuation and maltreatment of ram meant for Eid-El Kabir celebration.
The group expressed their dissatisfaction against the activities of the board, pointing that the timing was wrong for someone to be going round evacuating people’s ram.
In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by Mohamed Giwa and Lukman Hamza, the Chairman and the Secretary, respectively, the group said its members have not violated any known environmental rules and regulations, insisting their trade is being done far away from the city infrastructure.
While pointing accusing fingers to the office of the Director of AEPB, the association wondered why their members were being harassed when bleeding manholes in the city were left unchecked with raw excreta flowing into the streets.
They said as a social worker, AEPB is supposed to be conscious of the religious rites of every Nigerian citizen.
Part of the statement read: “This is a very wrong time for someone to be going round evacuating people’s ram by this time. They should have given people notice or stopped them earlier. And the situation today is the fact that we have only about ten days to sallah.
“We have been doing this business and rearing these animals for almost a year. And just ten days when people have paid and we are keeping it for them to come and pick for the islamic rites, then they are coming to do evacuation. And when they evacuate, it is not like you are going to be charged a fine. We also provided remediation measures; we clean the place and do everything to ensure it is kept clean.
“What we are appealing is that the Director AEPB or whosoever is in charge should look into this thing and find a lasting solution to it because it is just five or six days to sallah, and they are still doing it. Most of the rams are being packed like bags, and if a ram is wounded, it is not good for the sacrifice.
“We thought that AEPB is supposed to be doing social work. None of their infrastructure has been tampered with. Bleeding manholes are all over the city, everywhere excreta is oozing into the streets.
“Nobody wants to stop that, but ram that is taking ten days is the one that they are concentrating on. So we appeal that something should be done about it so that this inhuman treatment against traders can stop”.
