By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Worried by fears of contamination, local authorities of Enugwu-Agidi Community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra have banned people of the area from fetch water from Ali River because of a floating corpse.

The corpse, according to the President-General of Enugwu-Agidi Community, Mr. Bartholomew Nnamdi Okeke, has been floating on the river for about two weeks now and concerted efforts made to get relevant security agencies to evacuate the dead body has proved abortive.

Decrying the inability of security agencies in the state to evacuate the floating corpse in the Ali River, Okeke, in a statement, described the situation as serious.

He said that the community has informed the Dunukofia Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who declined their request on the ground that he lacks the jurisdiction.

According to Okeke, the DPO in Njikoka LGA was also contacted to take necessary steps to evacuate the corpse, but he also declined.

“We have also engaged the DCID, Awka which promised to expedite action on the corpse removal process,” Okeke added.

The statement reads in part: “It was a serious situation that a dead corpse was thrown into Ali Enugwu-Agidi (river). The issue has lingered for two weeks now as NDU have made all necessary efforts and was still on top of the matter.

“We can give details that we have informed the Dunukofia Divisional Police Officer who declined on the ground that he lacks jurisdiction; yet we asked him to inform his Njikoka counterpart so that necessary steps to evacuate the corpse be taken. We have also engaged the DCID, Awka which promised to expedite action on the removal process.

“Our Local Government Chairman was also informed and same situation ensued.”

The PG said he has announced to the people of the community to stop fetching Ali River for now as the Town Union continues to intensify efforts to have the corpse evacuated, assuring that the matter would be laid to rest in few days’ time.

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