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COVID-19: ASATU raises alarm over migration of strange persons to Anambra

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Anambra State Association of Town Unions has called on the Federal Government to ensure adequate security in all parts of the country and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Chief Alex Onukwue, the National President of the Association, made the call on Tuesday when he briefed newsmen after an emergency meeting of the union.

He said that leaders of communities in Anambra operating under the aegis of ASATU were worried over the ‘shipment of strange persons’ from some parts of the country to the southeast geopolitical zone.

Onukwue said that there was no discussion with any person that the zone was in need of strangers to come and live within its territory and considered such action as `a security breach’.

“It is unlawful for some ‘desperate persons’ in the country to hide some youth in-between animals or goods in trucks and move them to the South East at a time the country was grappling with the COVID-19 challenges.

“We want to know if the security operatives placed to man the borders across the country were asleep when such heinous act was done against the people of eastern zone,” he said.

Onukwue said that the act was already generating tension and fear in the region and posed security risks to the people and appealed to the right authority to act swiftly.

“ASATU, on behalf of all the communities of Anambra wish to express its disgust and total disappointment with the ongoing unlawful efforts by some desperate citizens of the country who now engage in the illegal act of moving strange persons to the South of the country, South East inclusive.

“It is no longer news that in recent weeks, truckloads of persons who may be carriers of COVID-19 have been intercepted by security operatives in various parts of the South East – Enugu, Abia, Anambra among others.

“Just on Monday, May 18, a truck with registration number MDR 148 XA was intercepted here in Awka loaded with no fewer than 33 persons going to Onitsha.

“This is completely unacceptable to Anambra people and the rest of the South East and it should stop forthwith,” he said.

“ASATU warms that if the trend was not stopped immediately, the people of Anambra and the South East, in general, will have to “confront the situation with the seriousness it deserves.

“Whoever that was behind this unlawful act should refrain from doing so immediately as communities in Anambra can no longer fold their hands and watch as our lives are being threatened,” he said.

Onukwue described the act of some unpatriotic citizens who go as far as hiding human beings between animals and bags of cement and smuggle them down to Anambra and the South East as condemnable.

“We wish to warn that should this callous business of shipping strange persons continue, in the light of COVID-19 restrictions, we will be left with no choice than to confront the situation with the seriousness it deserves.

“We can no longer take it as child’s play,” he said.

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