Residents of Airport View Estate of Asaba axis in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State have sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) message to the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa led Delta State Government over a life-threatening erosion menace that has ravaged the major parts of the estate.
Landlords, landladies and youths of the Airport View Estate made the call during a peaceful protest on Saturday, October 8, 2022, to attract the attention of the State Government after several alleged letters written to inform the government of the state of affairs in their area failed to yield the desired result.
They alleged that a stubborn politician identified to be from the ruling political party in the state (names withheld), had bought and blocked an access road that could have evacuated the perennial ravaging flood in the estate to an exit point at Marble Hill Street, thereby exposing them to a virus danger waiting to happen.
The resident protesters stormed the streets in the Estate with placards with inscriptions such as, “Okowa, Our Governor your politician have blocked our access road and waterways. Please help us; Senator Okowa come to our rescue by demolishing illegal structures blocking our roads now; Our lives are in danger we can’t sleep anymore because of erosion and insecurities; All fences have collapsed because of erosion.”
Other inscriptions were: “Okowa save us from being washed away by erosion; PDP man, don’t block the access road to over 3000 residents; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, please save us from impending danger from Anthony Anukwu, your PDP chieftain; no road no development, if you block the only access road, you will compound our plight.”
The blockade of the access road and erosion challenges were said to have started four years ago when some of the residents woke up to discover that the said politician was laying the foundation for his project.
The aggrieved residents, led by the Chairman of Non-Indigenes Association in Delta State, Asaba Branch, Chief Engr. Joseph Obi, the Executives of Airport View Estate Landlord Association, were said to have written several letters to the Ministries of Lands and Survey, Environment, Information as well as other relevant government agencies, calling their attention to the dangers posed by the blockade.
They appealed to the governor to remove the structure to save them from losing their property and eventual death that may arise if the erosion menace is left unchecked.
They claimed that officials of the Delta State Government had visited and marked the structure for demolition, adding that the then Commissioner for Lands and Survey even advised the politician as a fellow political Party man to remove the shanty to save endangered houses in the Estate but refused and instead boasted that they were the ones that put Governor Okowa in power.
Speaking to journalists at the protest venue, Chief Engr. Joseph Obi, a major landlord in the area who said he has lived in the area for years, stated that the disputed shanty/structure was the major waterways draining heavy flow of water coming from Okpanam to the area whenever it rains.
He disclosed that “we have written to relevant sectors of the Government number of times over the menace but it seems the State Government has neglected the residents of the area because of one politician of PDP member that bought our access road and every effort to remove the shanty he put on the waterways proved abortive the Government and the police are behind him.”
“Because of one man over 50 buildings have been washed away, fences pulled down, reported cases of children drowning time to time. Not long ago, a man died while trying to rescue his daughter from drowning in erosion waters in the area,” he added.
Some landlords in the area including Chief Edward Acha, a retired Civil Servant, Chief Fabian Chukwuma Ukiah, BoT member of Airport View Estate and PDP Chieftain in the State, Chief Onobraekpeyan Edward and Chief Mrs Gladys Ugberu, said the protest was to draw the attention of the State Government to the plights they were suffering in the area.
While appealing to the State Government to come to their aid that their properties were destroyed, they revealed that they have several times taken self-palliative measures that helped curtailed the erosion but it was now beyond them.
Source: The Mandate
