By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Thursday, May 18,
2017 started for me in a very special way. First, I got a distress call from a
young single mother of three children who ekes out a living by hawking fresh
fruits somewhere in Wuse Two, Abuja
This call came at about 8 am the
moment I settled into my office desk to begin the day’s work. The purpose of
the call was to report that armed operatives of the Abuja Environmental
Authority seized her articles of trade and arrested her late last night. She
was forced to cough out five thousand naira before she could be left off the
hook, but the men went away with her entire business wares.
This lady, by name
Miss Evelyn, has a toddler she still breastfeeds in addition to the other two
children who are in public school even as she relies on the petty trading to
take care of them the best way she can. She wept uncontrollably and urged that
our group should intervene so her wares could be released. But our effort was
fruitless.
