Environmental Health Officers of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment are seeking justice on the matter of an alleged assault on one of their members when carrying out a public health enforcement exercise at Okaka Estate.
The Environmental Health Officers disregarded BESA’s claims regarding the legality of the exercise.
In a statement released in Yenagoa, the officers stated that BESA’s narration of events was “false, misleading and a deliberate attempt to distort facts.”
They maintained that the enforcement exercise was carried out legally, pursuant to the powers vested in the Ministry of Environment by virtue of its constitutional and statutory obligations.
According to the statement, the officers were officially authorized by the ministry to carry out a routine inspection to identify and remove expired products and public health nuisances in the area.
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They asserted that environmental health enforcement was a concurrent function, and the Ministry of Environment was duly authorized by the Bayelsa State Public Health Law to enforce public health laws in all eight LGAs in the state.
Furthermore, the police officers refuted claims that they were extorting N200,000 from the shop owners during the inspection exercise, calling such statements fictitious and defamatory.
They stated that their job was limited to conducting inspections, documenting, and evacuating expired products without requesting anything from any member of the community.
The statement further called on BESA to prove their claims by providing video footage or even petitions as evidence for the extortion case.
The police officers also claimed that while the process of inspection was taking place, the chairman of BESA with some of his men came into the spot, destroyed and seized all the evidence documents which was an act of obstruction to a law enforcement exercise.
About the issue of assault, the officers claimed that one of their colleagues, Sanitarian Illuma Austin was assaulted in the open during the process of inspection.
According to them, the incident was seen by shop attendants, members of the general public, and officials who were present at the site, and further stated that the incident was reported to the police through Operation Doo Akpo and backed up by a medical report.
The officers denounced any attempt at criminalizing public health officials for performing their duties lawfully, stating that any form of assault on enforcement officers, hindering official duties, and destruction of evidence are crimes under the Bayelsa State Public Health Law and the Criminal Code.
They reiterated their commitment to public health, and they urged the relevant authorities to conduct an investigation into the incident and ensure that those culpable of the assault and obstruction of duty are punished.
This development comes after a recent misunderstanding between the Environmental Health Officers under the Ministry of Environment and BESA regarding the manner in which the enforcement operation was carried out at Okaka Estate.
