More than ten parked vehicles at the TIMAAS (Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State) facility on Obikabia Road in Ogbor Hill, Aba, have been completely destroyed by fire.
This occurred shortly after Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu instructed the traffic agency to free all automobiles being held at the yard by December 30, 2022, at the latest.
The affected vehicles were among those seized by Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu, Commander of the TIMAAS, 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 and TIMAAS and Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu, which declared TIMAAS an illegal body and emphasized that it was not established by any law of the State Assembly.
According to reports, if it weren’t for the quick action of the guys from the Abia State Fire Service, Aba, who prevented it from spreading to other areas of the yard, the flames might have destroyed additional automobiles.
Although the exact cause of the fire is still unknown, it is speculated that some hunters who typically sneak into the yard to look for game may have started the fire.
One of the impacted car owners, who wished to remain unnamed, claimed that since the court ordered the dissolution of the TIMAAS, he has been unable to get his car back from them.
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.