Gov Okorocha Begs Catholic Church Over Assumpta Road
By Austin Echefu
Governor Okorocha of Imo State on Wednesday begged the people of Imo State and the Catholic Church community over the renaming of the Maria Assumpta Avenue to Muhammadu Buhari Road in Owerri, blaming the printers deveil.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Prof Nnamdi Obiareri, on Wednesday, the state government apologised, saying that “All inconveniences occasioned by the initial oversight or error of wrongly installing a street sign suggesting a renaming of the street is highly regretted.”
The Imo State government had hurriedly erected a new bricks board at the Warehouse Junction with Maria Assumpta Avenue on it after the news of the angst of the Catholic Church spread, saying that the road begins from there and ends at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral, and not from the Cathedral to the Government House.
In a shocking move, the state government bowed to pressure and renamed the road back to Maria Assumpta Avenue from Muhammadu Buhari Road, saying that the Maria Assumpta Avenue remained untouched.
“This is to inform the public and particularly the highly respected body of Roman Catholic Faithfuls in Imo State and beyond that Okporo uzo Assumpta or Assumpta Avenue Owerri stays”, said the state government.
The government assured that it did not have the intention to rename the Maria Assumpta Road, stressing that “At all material times, it was never the intention of the Imo State Government to rename the said strategic road which spans from Assumpta Cathedral (beginning from the Holy Family statue built by the Rescue Mission Government) and terminating at Warehouse House Roundabout Owerri”.
“Okporo Uzo Assumpta or Assumpta Road or Avenue is symbolic for both religious and historic reasons in Imo State and these facts are not lost on the Government and people of Imo State”, the government further assured.
