Ebonyi Assembly probes community mining company

The Ebonyi State House of Assembly Committee on Public Petition, Justice and Judiciary has issued an instant warrant of arrest for the director of First Patriot Company, Obia Alio, over alleged damage of property and insensitivity to the plight of the host community.

The committee chairman, Innocent Nomeh, made the disclosure when they paid an on-the-spot assessment to the community (Enyim Agelegu Ndufu Alike) following a series of petitions filed against the company.

They equally expressed dissatisfaction over the way the company has been using military men to subdue the community’s complaints in the face of the destruction of their farmlands, buildings and properties, including the poisoning by the exhumed minerals, which allegedly has left many dead.

The house resolved that the company should leave the community as it is no more beneficial to them.