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By Madu Obi
Newspaper vendors in Anambra State have embarked on strike following consistent harassment and destruction of their newsstands and newspapers by officials of the state government.
There has been a raging battle between the vendors and Awka Capital Territory Development Agency, ACTDA, whose officials vowed to stop vendors from displaying newspapers in places they termed unapproved corners.
Following the consistent harassment, the vendors petitioned the police and the Department of State Service, DSS. On Thursday when the DSS invited the vendors and the government officials for a dialogue, ACTDA officials failed to attend the reconciliation meeting.
In a surprise move, they went to the popular Aroma junction and confiscated all the newspapers and destroyed the vendors' tables.
One of the vendors said that when they went to the ACTDA office to complain about the development, the head of administration said the taskforce team did not bring the confiscated newspapers to the office.
She said that outside the ACTDA office, a member of the taskforce told her that they had given the newspapers out for wrapping suya.
The ACTDA official also boasted that they would never allow the vendors to display newspapers in Awka despite appeals by journalists and other people in the state capital.
Angered by the development, the vendors decided to go on strike, abandoning all the newspapers brought to Anambra State on Friday for sale.
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