The Bayelsa State Govern
ment said it would establish a sanitation court to try environmental sanitation offenders in the state.
The Chairman of the Bayelsa State Environmental Sanitation Authority, Chief Abel Ebifamowei, made the announcement while speaking with newsmen in Yenagoa, last Wednesday
He said that the court became necessary to check the attitude of some people towards environmental sanitation in the state, adding that the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Kate Abiri, would inaugurate the court soon.
According to him, the court, when inaugurated, will entertain cases relating to environmental offences as stipulated by the laws of the state and commended Governor Seriake Dickson for his foresight in signing into law, the establishment of the sanitation court.
He expressed optimism that the arrest and prosecution of sanitation defaulters, would serve as deterrent to people and compel them to keep clean and healthy environments and warned that there would be no reprieve for any sanitation offender.
Ebifamowei deplored the attitude of many residents of Yenagoa toward environmental sanitation observed on the last Saturday of every month in the state.
The chairman said that those involved in indiscriminate parking of vehicles, moulding of blocks on pathways and dumping of sand and chipping on streets were liable to prosecution under the sanitation law.
Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Police Command has begun a manhunt for a construction worker suspected to have murdered a 27-year-old woman in Kaiama community in Bayelsa.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Dsp. Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the incident in an interview.
“We are investigating the crime and also hunting for the boyfriend suspected to be responsible for her death. “For now, we are trying to track him down, because he has gone into hiding,” Akhigbe said.
The suspect, a labourer at a construction company, allegedly beat the woman to death and dumped the corpse into a nearby river.
A source in Kaiama community said that the incident happened last  Tuesday night, saying that the deceased’s body was discovered by people who had gone to the river to bath the following morning.
The source who gave his name simply as Justice, said that the body of the woman was discovered at about 6.30 a.m. on Sept. 18.
“The corpse of the woman was discovered by some people who had gone to take their bath by the riverside. “We saw machete cuts on the body of the victim. “The cuts on the corpse showed that the suspect must have attacked the victim with machete before throwing her body into the river,” Justice said.