Over 10 vehicles parked at the premises of the Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State, TIMAAS, located along Obikabia road, Ogbor Hill, Aba, have been gutted by fire.
This came a few days after Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu had directed the traffic agency to release all vehicles being detained at the yard on or before December 30, 2022.
The affected vehicles were among those impounded by the Commander of the TIMAAS, Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu before a State High Court sitting in Obingwa Judicial Division presided over by Justice E.O. Enwereji, in Suit No; HOB/24/2022; between Kalu Nnamdi Collins (plaintiff) and TIMAAS and Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu (defendants), which declared TIMAAS an illegal body, stressing that it was not created by any law of the State House of Assembly.
The inferno could have consumed more vehicles, but for the timely intervention of the men of the Abia State Fire Service, Aba, who stopped it from spreading to other parts of the yard, a Vanguard report says.
Though the cause of the fire is still yet to be ascertained, it is feared that the inferno may have been kindled by some hunters who usually sneak into the yard to hunt for animals.
One of the affected vehicle owners who declined to have his name on print said he has been unable to retrieve his car from the TIMAAS after they were disbanded by the court.
He said; “I have made efforts to retrieve my car since the court declared TIMAAS illegal. I don’t have money to pay the huge fine they levied me because I didn’t commit any traffic offence. Every time, I visit, the TIMAAS people have been asking me to see the General Manager, they call him Osama, but he has not been available. I have tried reaching him on the telephone, all to no avail. I heard the Governor has ordered them to release the vehicles, but I don’t know how I can contact the General Manager since he is not responding to my calls.”
Governor Ikpeazu, had in a statement issued through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Chris Ezem, directed that car owners whose vehicles are being detained at the yard to remove them on or before December 30, 2022.
