Two groups of scrap metal dealers in Rivers State – Blessed Scrap Dealers, Mile 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt and Scrap Dealers Association, Eleme Junction – are in a battle with the state task force on the evacuation of metals.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechiamzaechi
They see the task force as a disguised illegal revenue collector backed with police harassment.
There is yet another twist: even with the involvement of policemen in raids, impoundments, and alleged extortions, the state police boss maintains that he did not deploy officers to the task force.
Ernest Durum, leader of the dealers, said they were served with an undated demand notice on July 1 by the officials of the task force constituted by the Rivers State Ministry of Environment.
The agency divided scrap dealers into three categories and asked them to register with various sums.
Category A – major scrap metal dealers/merchants; register with N250,000.
Category B – scrap metal vendor/consultant/scrap metal spare parts dealers; register with N150,000.
Category C – scrap metal hawkers; register with N50,000.
‘Extortion’ triggers petition
When the task force failed to heed verbal appeals from the dealers, they engaged a lawyer, Cosmas Enweluzo, who wrote a petition on their behalf on July 9 to Environment Commissioner, Nyema Weli.
Copies were sent to Governor Rotimi Amaechi; Attorney General and Justice Commissioner, Worgu Boms; Police Commissioner, Tunde Ogunsakin; Police Affairs Minister, Abduljelili Adesiyan; and former Police Inspector General, Muhammed Abubakar.
The petition stated that:
• The associations are incorporated and the members gather scrap materials which include metal scraps and aluminium materials from where they are littered on the streets and transform them into valuable metal sheets and rods.
• On July 1, 2014, members of the association were served with a notice by the task force. Two days later, the task force started “harassing, arresting and impounding the goods and trucks” of the members and taking them to police stations “where huge sums of money are extorted from them before they are released.”
• On July 3, a truckload of scrap metal, owned by two dealers, Basil Oguegbu and Peter Arihalam, was impounded by policemen on the way to their dump site at Mile 3, Diobu, Port Harcourt, and detained at Eliozu dump site.
• The machine used by another member, Ifeanyi Ezeji, to load and offload materials was seized by police and task force officers on July 4.
“We know that no good government the world over would want to deny its citizens the dynamics of life to wit: Life, Liberty and Property which the government on its own cannot solely provide for the people as a result of numerous needs calling for attention at any given point in time,” the petition added.
“Thus, every reasonable government encourages its citizens to engage in meaningful projects geared towards personal sustenance and survival. The action of the task force – to say the least – is a direct antithesis of life, liberty and property which is the hallmark of every democratic society and setting.”
Denial by police
But Ogunsakin told journalists on July 10 that: “I have not approved the deployment of our men to accompany any task force. I have resisted repeated pleas from the Rivers State Traffic Management Agency, TIMARIF, because I am aware that such opportunity can be exploited to perpetrate all sorts of atrocities.”
He promised to contact the area commander of MOPOL 19, Port Harcourt, to find out if he deployed officers to the task force.
Task force backed by law
Task force Chairman, Solomon Chuku, told TheNiche that the agency has the force of law and expressed surprise when informed that policemen are not officially assigned to it.
He insisted that the task force applied to the state police command for armed policemen to assist the task force to carry out its duties without molestation from scrap dealers.
Counter argument
The task force is a creation of the Rivers State Environmental Protection Agency Law, Cap 53, by virtue of a subsidiary legislation which flows from Section 9 (c) (f) and (g).
However, Section 9, subsection (f) appears to be the legal foundation for the establishment of the task force.
Enweluzo argued that “the powers of government at all levels to impose and demand payment of taxes from individuals and bodies are derivable from enabling laws such as the 1999 Constitution (as altered); taxes and levies (approved list for collection) Act, Cap-Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.”
In tandem with Section 1 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), he said, “if any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law is null and void.”
But the argument cannot proceed to court yet because of the impasse in the Rivers State judiciary.