Governor Nyesom of Rivers State says says the demolition of Oginiba abattoir in the Trans Amadi area of Port Harcourt is not targeted at ethnic or religious group.
Wike, who spoke when he inspected the ongoing demolition of the market on Friday, said anyone giving religious or ethnic coloration to the demolition does not mean well for the state and the country.
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He maintained that besides the demolished market being a haven for criminal elements, its location at the Trans-Amadi Industrial Area is now considered inappropriate in terms of the State government’s urban renewal policy.
The Rivers State governor disclosed that over the year a large cache of weapons were amassed by criminal elements operating from the demolished market .
He expressed optimism that with the demolition, residents of Oginiba will now heave a sigh of relief from the activities of criminals.
According to him, there are several other abattoir markets like the ones in Eliozu, Rukpokwu, Ogbogoro that are still functional and have not been converted to haven for crime and criminality.
“So anybody bringing religious or ethnic coloration doesn’t mean well for the people of the state and the country.”
“And I am not going to be perturbed; I am not going to be cowed and also I am not going to be blackmailed by anybody.”
Wike stated that the State government has already commenced the construction of a modern abattoir with state of the art equipment at Mgbuosimini, Rumueme of Obio-Akpor council, saying the new abattoir has the capacity to slaughter 400 cattle as well as 1500 goats and sheep per day.
The governor said the government will develop the site of the former Oginiba abattoir market to suit its urban renewal policy.
He commended the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Task Force on Illegal Trading And Parks for successfully overseeing the demolition exercise.
The governor said he is delighted with the feedbacks he is getting from residents, who are delighted by the measures taken by the State government to restore sanity around the Oginiba market.
“People are happy. People have been commending us. Go to social media, people are saying they never believed that a government can take this kind of drastic action that is long overdue.”
“And like I said, we don’t believe in doing things without giving a human face to governance. We tried to bring the Ministry of Agriculture to interface with them, to talk to them to let them know this is the plan of government.
And we gave them one month to leave. It is our property, it is not as if people built and we are coming to take it. Government built this place with our funds,” he said.
