Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has vowed to relocate the Owerri Main Market, (popularly known as Eke Ukwu Owerri) irrespective of any subsisting court orders.
An Imo State High Court presided over by Justice Sabinus I. Opara, had last September restrained the state government from destroying, relocating or tampering with the Ekeukwu Owerri Market, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit, HOW/380/2016.
Governor Okorocha has been accused severally of not obeying due process, court orders and the rule of law.
But, speaking recently with journalists at his Spibat house, the governor said that no court barred him from relocating the market.
According to him, the major reason he was yet to enforce the relocation and demolition of the market was because he had not completed the construction of the new market at Egbeada, Owerri.
He insisted that immediately the market was completed, “I won’t give them days to vacate from that market. Douglas Road must open up to. We cannot continue to have such a place near the state government house”.
Okorocha, who was visibly angry with the elders of Owerri Nchi Ise for preventing the relocation of the market, accused them of fighting selfish course.
“These are highly placed members of the society who have traveled far and near across the globe. They have seen how other cities were developed and organized. But because of selfishness, they want Owerri to remain filthy. The market has constituted a nuisance by defacing Owerri city and creating filth within the metropolis. It must be relocated”, he sad.
He promised to complete all the ongoing projects in the New Year, restating his resolve to make Owerri the enviable capital city in Nigeria as well as the talk of the nation.
“That is why you could see the Army, Police, NUJ, NBA among others holding their conferences here because here is safe. I am doing all these things because I want to retire here. That’s why you see me building roads that will take care of traffic in the next 50 years in Owerri”, he said.
