A 26-year-old man, Ndukwe Edu, is to spend one month in prison for dumping refuse at the wrong time in Aba, Abia State.

Edu, a resident of No. 14 Milverton Avenue, was arrested Wednesday morning by a member of staff of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) and was arraigned and summarily tried by an Aba-la-Ohazu Customary Court.

The court found him guilty of dumping refuse at a refuse collection point in Aba after the prescribed period had elapsed.

Dr Ugo Okere of ASEPA said Edu’s crime was dumping refuse into a refuse collection bucket by 10 am, contrary to government directive mandating residents to dump their refuse at the collection buckets from 5 - 9pm daily.

After his charge was read out to him, Edu was asked to take his plea and he pleaded liable to the offence, adding that he saw a woman doing same thing which led him to imitate her.

He also told the court that he was sick and just had a treatment from local bone healers before leaving his house that morning and pleaded for leniency.

However, the court found that Edu, hired by people to dispose refuse for them, was in the habit of going to the collection sites to dump refuse on the ground when the buckets have been removed.

The magistrate, Mr Diamond Olewengwa, ruled that Edu having flouted the law and pleaded liable to the offence, be remanded in prison for one month without option of fine.

“Mr Ndukwe Edu is hereby remanded in prison for one month. There is no option of fine. The essence is to serve as a deterrent and to correct others and to make the society to be in tandem with the prevailing laws of the state,” Olewengwa said in his ruling.

Olewengwa said that considering the level of filth and littering done in Aba and its consequences on the health of residents, such sanitary offences could not be overlooked, adding that habitual offenders of the law should be punished to deter potential offenders.

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