Gov Orders Reclamation Of Mining Pits In State After APC Youth Leader Died At Abandoned Site

The remains of the youth leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ebonyi State, Mr Ogochukwu Elem, and two armed police officers were Monday morning recovered from a deep pond in a mining pit at Enyigba axis of Abakaliki- Ikwo road in Ebonyi State.

THE WHISTLER reported that efforts to rescue the victims on Saturday evening failed due to poor visibility, according to the state police public relations officer, Loveth Odah.

The accident happened on Saturday evening, and unconfirmed reports claimed eleven persons were in the car.

During the rescue of the victims, supervised by Gov Dave Umahi and the state commissioner of police, Mr Aliyu Garba, three corpses were recovered, alongside the vehicle they were in a Golf car with registration number EBONYI CHR 85 AE.

Our correspondent gathered that they were going to Ikwo Local Government Area for an event when the vehicle veered off the road and plunged into the abandoned open mining pit.

Governor Umahi described the accident as ‘a supreme sacrifice’. He also ordered his chief of staff and supervising commissioner for solid minerals, Chief Samuel Okoronkwo, to within one week identify all abandoned mining pits within the axis for reclamation.

A youth leader from Ikwo, who was among the sympathisers, Comrade Nelson Nwali, said the people of the area were devastated by the accident, and called on the government to monitor the activities of miners to ensure that used mining pits were reclaimed.