A 109-year-old bean cake (akara) seller, Chidinma Eluwa, was among 66 residents arraigned for violating Abia State’s monthly environmental sanitation exercise, according to The Punch on Sunday, June 28, 2026.
Eluwa was arrested on Owerri Road for operating her business during restricted sanitation hours. Magistrate O. C. Ibekwe later discharged her on compassionate grounds after she pledged to comply with future sanitation regulations.
The sanitation enforcement exercise also saw nine other offenders sentenced to community service as the state government intensified efforts to improve compliance following a three-month suspension of the monthly clean-up programme.
Representing the Commissioner for Environment, Mrs. Happiness Akpulonu expressed concern over poor public participation and the growing accumulation of refuse, particularly at Orie Ugba Market.
“Residents in Umuahia especially respond better to enforcement than advice. We may have to stop advising them and start enforcing compliance,” she said.
Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Kalu Mba-Nwoke, urged residents to make cleanliness a daily habit rather than a government-imposed obligation, while leaders of the Northern Community in Abia reaffirmed their support by participating in the sanitation exercise.
