Kwara State Government has said it will not accept further sabotage of its efforts to ensure a cleaner environment in the state, a warning made following the arrest of a domestic aide to a top opposition figure who was caught dumping huge refuse by the roadside in Ilorin.
The said aide, Taofeeq Ambali, was accosted at Flower Garden area of Ilorin on Thursday morning as he offloaded the truckload of refuse by the roadside purportedly at the behest of a former ambassador and member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.
“We are thoroughly disgusted at this obvious attempt to frustrate government’s efforts to make the environment clean. It is unthinkable to find opposition figures deliberately littering the streets with garbage and then turning around to make videos of the same scenes and publishing them in their local newspapers for political capital,” according to a statement by the Commissioner for Communications Hon. Bode Towoju.
“We recall that the spokesman of the PDP was recently going round town making and sharing videos of illegal refuse dumps in the early hours of the day to make nonsense of government’s efforts to clean the environment. The arrest made today, alongside other observations of deliberate sabotage, confirms the long-held belief that certain agent-provocateurs are bent on making the streets constantly dirty just to drive a political narrative. It does not bother them that this self-serving behaviour could trigger an epidemic in the state. This is unpatriotic behaviour at its worst form!
“This is to reiterate to the good people of Kwara State that any deliberate act of sabotage on the government’s effort to curbing Indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the metropolis will not be condoned.
“During the ministry’s routine inspection exercise today, May 12, 2022, while taking a tour around the metropolis to ascertain the level of environmental compliance in the state, a driver to a notable personality, Ambassador Nimota N. Akanbi, was caught dumping refuse indiscriminately on an illegal dumpsite. During interrogation, the driver, Taofeeq Ambali, claimed he was directed by his boss to dump at the location where he was caught.
“The state government would like to remind the citizenry that indiscriminate dumping of refuse is an offence in Kwara State, irrespective of the social status or calibre of the offender. The government has been proactive enough to sensitise the public on the proper disposal of waste. We urge that the Commercial waste collectors assigned to manage waste evacuated from residential areas and commercial locations should be patronised accordingly.
“We assure the good people of Kwara that all environmental violators will not go scot-free and will be sanctioned according to applicable State environmental laws.”
