Angry protesters again yesterday took to the streets of Owerri, the Imo State capital to vent their angers over the continued demolition of buildings by the state government bringing commercial activities to an halt.
Hundreds of angry women from the Eke Ukwu Owerri Market joined the protest which was started on Wednesday by scores of artisans from the Orji Mechanic Village in Owerri North local government area, the women could be seen wearing black blouses and uniformed wrappers, protesting the planned demolition of the ancestral market.
“There is no doubt that the Governor is dragging his hatred against Owerri people too far”, some of the protesters lamented.
One woman said: “It was under his regime that our late royal father, Eze Emmanuel Njemanze, was suspended for no just cause. Government never withdrew that suspension until he died.”
“How can the governor summarily sentence us and our families to perpetual hunger, the woman continued, by moving the market to Egbeada, a different local government area? This is not fair at all.”
As at press time yesterday, several buildings including Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, the French Language Centre, Allianz Francois, some commercial banks, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Akwakuma and ancestral homes had suffered varying degrees of destruction or completely pulled down.
In his reaction to the protest, Governor Rochas Okorocha said: “It is highly regrettable that a group of women could be deceived into carrying out a protest that could rightly be described as uncalled for, over the State government’s good intention to relocate Eke Ukwu market to a better place.
“It is equally on record that successive governments in the State had also tried to move the market out of its current location to a more convenient place, but such previous efforts had also been frustrated by this kind of protest. In all considerations, the relocation of the Ekeukwu market is long overdue.”
One day one day, monkey go go market e no go return!