By Polycarp Ifeanyi, Onitsha
The Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has urged the Anambra State Government, under the leadership of Chukwuma Charles Soludo, to prosecute the culprits responsible for manhandling Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme.
In a statement signed by its President, Sir Augustine Ibeme, the group reminded the state government that the three officials of Anambra Waste Management Authority who brutalized Mr. Akaneme remain at large, stressing that prosecuting them would serve as a deterrent to errant contractors and government agencies.
The Chamber President appreciated the Anambra State Governor for his benevolent intervention in ordering the immediate payment of Mr. Akaneme’s hospital bills and considering his relocation to a better hospital to expedite recovery.
Ibeme further urged the state government to expedite the release of funds, expressing concern over the worsening state of Mr. Akaneme’s health and the accumulating medical bills. He also called for swift action in transferring Mr. Akaneme to a better medical facility, pending recommendations from medical experts.
“In line with Governor Soludo’s administration’s commitment to improving the ease of doing business in the state, the government must address recurring incidents of officials acting beyond their mandate and the illegal operations of some revenue agents,” Sir Ibeme stated.
The Chamber also extended gratitude to various stakeholders, including the media (print, electronic, and social media), bloggers, the Chamber movement, organized private sector, human rights activists, and other individuals who played key roles in bringing the incident to the attention of relevant authorities.
It can be recalled that Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, a former President of ONICCIMA and former Chairman of the Onitsha Federated Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), was assaulted a few months ago by overzealous agents of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA).
The ASWAMA officials, accompanied by some policemen, had reportedly claimed that Akaneme did not pay his waste utility bill and wanted to arrest him.
However, when he could not follow them, they tried to arrest him forcefully, and in the process, they locked his hands behind his neck.
Akaneme’s bone had cracked and the officials who noticed what happened immediately left him and ran away.
A source familiar with the case said that it was at the hospital that medical workers confirmed that Akaneme’s spinal cord had been 65% damaged, and that it will cost more than N20 million to treat him.
Another source who is also familiar with Akaneme’s current condition, Charles Ogbu, said that at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Memfys Hospital in Enugu, “Doctors have confirmed that the neck injury he sustained when one of the policemen that accompanied the thugs wove his hands around Akaneme’s neck and squeezed it, has compromised his Autonomic Nervous System which is responsible for most of the vital body activities like Blood Pressure, Heart and Breathing rate, Body temperature, Digestion, Metabolism etc.
“The hospital bill is currently above N20,000,000, far above what Professor Florence Akaneme, a lecturer at Nsukka and wife of Mr. Akaneme could afford alone.”
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