Eke Ukwu Market And Rochas Okorocha’s Relocation

MAZI EJIMOFOR OPARA

I was among the very few persons who lauded the administration of Senator Rochas Okorocha, when he relocated the Eke Ukwu Owerri Market as the then Governor of Imo State. Of course, this didn’t go down well with a majority of my Owerri Readers who, at the time, condemned Senator Okorocha’s defiant approach to governance. Government is about the people, and more often than not a good leader must learn the act of “freeing Barabas at the expense of Jesus Christ”. 

You simply wash the metaphorical “hands of Pilate” and allow the majority their way. 

Eke Ukwu Owerri is beyond a market. It is a representation of a people’s industry rooted in deep cultural understanding resilient enough to stand the fiercest of modernity. Besides, development must be couched on the three A’s of Acceptability, Accessibility and Affordability. Let’s take “Acceptability” in isolation of others and you would readily appreciate the diplomatic error in Okorocha’s insistence that Eke Ukwu must be moved away from the heart of Owerri. 

The Owerri people had a running battle with a Rochas who on his own defined his actions as best for a people who perceived otherwise. This is why the return of Eke Ukwu is akin to the restoration of Jerusalem as the Capital of the Jewish Nation. Truth is, a lot of Political factors accounted for the fierce resistance of a successor of Owelle’s making. Chief amongst them is the destruction of Eke Ukwu – the symbol of Owerri Entrepreneurial spirit. 

Governor Hope Uzodimma has scored another Bull’s eyes in the mind of the average Owerri indigene with the restoration of Eke Ukwu to its original place. The first was the completion and commissioning of the long abandoned Douglas Road. 

I do not know the spatial and structural appropriateness of this decision. What is, however, clear is that the people – majority of Nde Owerri – are desirous of this new development. What else is democracy? 

If in the destruction of Eke Ukwu Owerri, Owelle Rochas Okorocha died, would it be apt to say that in the restoration of Eke Ukwu Owerri Governor Hope Uzodimma lives a thousand times?

Only time will tell. 

Finally, little Somto’s soul may have just received a well deserved repose, for he died defending Eke Ukwu Owerri.

– Mazi Ejimofor writes from Ngor Okpala, Imo State.