A 109-year-old akara seller, Ma Chidinma Eluwa, has become the unexpected face of Abia State’s latest environmental sanitation enforcement after she was arrested during the monthly cleanup exercise before being released without paying a fine.
The elderly trader, who sells akara along Owerri Road in Umuahia, was among 66 residents apprehended on Saturday for allegedly violating the state’s monthly environmental sanitation order.
Her arrest comes at a time when akara has become a trending topic across Nigeria following recent public remarks by the country’s First Lady encouraging support for local foods and small-scale traders.
Despite being taken into custody, authorities exercised compassion after confirming her age. Ma Eluwa was discharged without any financial penalty after promising to comply with future sanitation directives.
While the centenarian’s arrest attracted attention, the exercise exposed a much broader challenge facing the state.
Environmental officials described compliance as disappointingly low, warning that continued disregard for sanitation regulations could force the government to adopt stricter enforcement measures.
Out of the 66 people arrested, seven—including the elderly akara seller—were released on health and other compassionate grounds, while nine offenders were assigned community service.
Officials said the suspension of sanitation exercises over the past three months had allowed refuse to accumulate across major markets, particularly Orie Ugba Market, making cleanup efforts more difficult.
Representing the Commissioner for Environment, the Head of Population Control and Environmental Health, Mrs. Happiness Akpulonu, said sanitation teams struggled to clear the growing heaps of waste and warned that persuasion alone was no longer producing results.
According to the government, stronger enforcement may now become necessary unless residents embrace the monthly cleanup exercise.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Hon. Kalu Mba-Nwoke, also blamed the poor turnout on months of inactivity, urging residents to make environmental cleanliness a daily habit rather than waiting for officially declared sanitation days.
Although the sanitation exercise highlighted concerns over waste management and compliance, it was the image of 109-year-old Ma Chidinma Eluwa, the elderly akara seller whose livelihood depends on one of Nigeria’s most beloved street foods, that became the most memorable moment of the day’s operation.
