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| Enugu State Deputy Governor, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi |
The official residence of the Enugu State Deputy Governor, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, was on Monday thrown into a brief scene of confusion as state government officials, carted away over 3,000 egg layers and about 40 crates of eggs from his poultry.
The PUNCH learnt that the invasion was on the orders of the Chief of Staff to the governor, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, and executed by officials of Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority and Ministry of Environment.
The ECTDA and environment ministry officials, who were led by their commissioners, Messrs Ikechukwu Ugwuegede and Nnaemeka Chukwuone respectively, arrived the lodge at about 1pm to inform the deputy governor of the Chief of Staff’s order to evacuate the birds and demolish the poultry.
It was gathered that the government had recently said the poultry was constituting public health hazard.
The Enugu State deputy governor, who was with his wife and personal aides, including his security officers attached to his office at the lodge, which has been under renovation since September 2012, did not resist the action of the officials, who later brought in four trucks and evacuated the chickens to an unknown destination.
When it became apparent that the government officials, mobilised by the two commissioners, could not evacuate the entire birds, they mobilised more uniformed officials of his ministry, who spent about an hour evacuating the birds and the crates of eggs into the four trucks and took them away.
The ECTDA commissioner, however, declined to comment on the development when approached by journalists, who rushed to the scene from the nearby Press Unit of the Government House.
He said he did not invite journalists to witness the exercise.
However, copies of correspondences between the office of the governor and that of the deputy governor over the operation of the poultry farm in the Government Lodge was obtained.
Two separate letters dated December 24 and 27, 2013, with reference numbers GHE/CAO/31/239 and GHE/CAO/31/240 and signed for the Chief of Staff by Mr. G.O.C Ajah, Permanent Secretary in-charge of Government House, Enugu, which were delivered to the office of the Deputy Governor the same day, indicated that the Chief of Staff had directed that the poultry be removed.
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