Embattled indigenes of the Owerri Municipal Council on Friday converged at their ancestral village square also known as Ugwu Ekwemaraugo, which situates on Egbu road where they angrily invoked the wrath of their ancestors to descend on those, who in one way or the other, had a hand in the demolition of their ancestral market, Ekeonuwa.
Led by their traditional prime minister, Paul Nnawuchi, the Head of Oha Owerri, Nze Boniface, elders, village heads and their titled men, the people, who wore black attires alongside their women folk prayed their forefathers to rise from their graves and defend their ancestral heritage which they said is now under threat of extinction by the Imo state government.
This is even as the people, in liaison with the entire Owerri zone have declared a one-week mourning for the market demolition and in memory of all those who lost their lives in the mayhem that trailed the demolition exercise.
The mourning period, which would commence with a special thanksgiving mass at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral Owerri on the September 3, 2017 would be rounded-off with a commendation service at the cathedral church of the Transfiguration of our Lord, Owerri on the 10th.
Prominent among the dignitaries at the gathering were: Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, member Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic Party, former Aviation Minister, Dr. Mrs. Kema Chikwe, All Progressives Grand Alliance chieftain, Chief Martin Agbaso, a former governorship aspirant, Chief Ike C. Ibe, Ken Njemanze (SAN) while the senator for Owerri zone, Samuel Anyanwu, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha and Member for Owerri Federal Constituency, Ezenwa Onyewuchi said to be out of the country all sent their goodwill messages.
Chairman of the occasion, Ken Njemanze assisted by a PDP chieftain in the state, Chief Ambrose Ejiogu vividly captured the mood of the people in his remarks.
According to him, the market which was part of the cultural identity of the people and their veritable means of livelihood was put in place by their forefathers.
Njemanze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria regretted that efforts by the state government to relocate the market was resisted by the people with a subsisting court injunction which restrained the government from enforcing the plan.
He however, expressed shock that the government which is supposed to be a symbol of rule of law, due process and a respecter of court orders shamelessly threw caution to the wind by removing the market saying, “We must ensure that the perpetrators of this criminality are brought to justice and committed to prison. We must also apply all necessary legal steps to ensure that the victims of the senseless demolition are adequately compensated”.
Chief Iwuanyanwu, who spoke in tandem with a number of speakers including Dr. Mrs. Kema Chikwe, village heads, women and youth leaders and notable politicians noted that the people have continued to make sacrifices for the development of the Owerri capital city by not only donating part of their ancestral land for this but also had their cultures and tradition bastardized by the state government.
Chief Iwuanyanwu declared those who lost their lives in the mayhem that trailed the market demolition as martyrs, assuring that a committee would be put in place to investigate those behind the importation of ex-militants from the Ohaji-Egbema council area of the state to smoothen the market relocation.
