- Demolition of Ekeukwu Market, Owerri; killings worsen situation
By Valentine Amanze
Online Editor
A cloud of uncertainty seems to have befallen the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State less than two years to the 2019 general elections.
The party is said to be bedeviled by cracks due to the high-handedness and impunity of the state leadership, and consequently, the planning of structures by some APC chieftains to suit their political interest ahead of 2019 contest.
Three camps
The Imo APC is said to be split into three camps with members loyal to the APC National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunazo; former two term Senator Ifeanyi Araraume; and Governor Rochas Okorocha.
One of the factors believed to be tearing the APC apart is the insistence of Okorocha not to respect the zoning formula for the governorship contest.
Owerri and Okigwe zones are laying claim to the ticket after Orlu would have done another eight years with Okorocha, but critics allege he wants to dump zoning because he wants his son-in-law to succeed him.
The camps believe strongly that Okorocha who truncated the zoning arrangement will not be the one to finally bastardise it because of his selfish political interest.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) believes the APC will not have a chance in 2019 due to alleged cracks within.
But the APC insists there is no crack.
State APC Chairman, Hilary Eke, did not answer his calls when TheNiche called his telephone number.
But another party chieftain, Marcel Nlemigbo, told this newspaper in a telephone interview that “there is no crack in the APC. Disagreement happens even between husband and wife.
“And in politics disagreement is normal, and does not mean a crack as some people see it.”
Nlemigbo said nobody has come up from Owerri zone to show interest in the governorship, and until that happens it is difficult to assume that the slot has been taken away.
However, the internal challenges in the APC are worsened by the recent demolition of Ekeukwu Market in Owerri which resulted in the death of some people, including a 10 year-old-boy, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi.
“People are crying over what happened but the government and everyone are trying to calm everybody down,” Nlemigbo added.
National APC weighs in
Regardless, TheNiche got it on good authority that the APC national leadership in Abuja is worried over the Okorocha-led government’s performance card, made worse by the recent demolition of markets and houses, and loss of lives.
Sources within the party said the state government did not consider the political implication and the timing of the destruction of properties, which the PDP has latched on to.
A source said the APC has quietly handed over the party’s structure in the state to “mature minds” to avoid further embarrassment.
The measure, by the APC national leadership, the source added, is to avoid losing Imo, an oil producing state and the only one in the South East ruled by the party.
Condemnation over demolitions
Condemnation galore has trailed the demolition of structures in Owerri on August 26 and other previous government activities considered anti-people.
The state PDP declared a seven-day mourning for those who died in the demolition of the market.
State PDP Publicity Secretary, Damian Opara, who confirmed this, wondered why Okorocha demolished the market when the case is in court.
While calling on Imo people to vote out the APC government in 2019, Opara advised Okorocha to stop demolishing roads and houses which he was not ready to complete.
His words: “Okorocha has not completed any road or housing project in Imo since he came to power. What he is doing is destroying the few good ones.
“Let him complete one and show Ndi-Imo before demolishing others. The man has destroyed all the roads in the state.”
Opara appealed to Imo people to support the state PDP, which he said, had resolved its leadership crisis, with Charles Ezekwe as state chairman.
State PDP Secretary, Ray Emeana, also wrote that the party “has declared a week of mourning in honour of Somtochukwu Ibeanusi who was brutally murdered by agents of the state at Ekeukwu Owerri on Saturday, August 26, 2017 during the demolition of the market.
“During the week of mourning all members of PDP, Imo State, should wear arm bands.
“All ward chairmen and secretaries should request for masses and prayers in their wards on Sunday, September 3 for the repose of the soul of the boy and for peace in Imo state. LGA chairmen should ensure compliance.”
Ohakim seeks Aso Rock intervention
Former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim, also condemned the killing of traders during the demolition of Ekeukwu Owerri Market by the government.
Ohakim said in a statement he issued that he was in support of the call made by 49 civil society organisastions which wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to investigate the circumstances that brought armed soldiers into a civil matter.
Ohakim regretted the impunity that has become the government of Okorocha and his agents and commended Ndi-Imo, particularly the Owerri zone, for being civil in the face of the provocation.
Ohakim wrote: “Since the unfortunate killing of Somtochukwu Ibeanusi on Saturday, August 26, 2017 by agents of government of Imo State, I have but spent most of my time praying for the repose of the soul of this 10 years old boy who was the hope of the Ibeanusi family.
“I also commend Ndi Imo for praying for the family and for all the wounded and dispossessed.
“In spite of this extreme provocation, I commend Ndi Imo, particularly the traders and Ndi Owerri Federal Constituency for remaining law abiding.
“I frown strongly on the deployment of the military and use of live bullets against unarmed civilians during this act of impunity and illegality.
“I have joined all well-meaning Nigerians in demanding to know who ordered the deployment of the military against a civilian population in a purely civil matter, even when there is a subsisting court injunction issued by Justice S.I. Opara of the Imo State High Court.
“Imo people, and indeed all Nigerians, should recall that in my letter to Okorocha dated August 26, 2016, I advised [him] in unmistakable terms against the demolition of the market.
“I drew [his] attention to the excruciating economic recession in the country, massive job losses in Imo State, the calamity of mechanics villages’ demolition without compensation and alternative. In short, I told him that the timing was wrong and timing in leadership actions is of essence.
“Again, I have severally called the attention of Okorocha to the flagrant abuse of the Owerri Master Plan and disobedience of subsisting court orders by himself and the agents of his administration.
“In this matter, the governor failed to address his mind to the fact that the Ekeukwu Market does not belong to Imo State government but a private business investment by the developers and traders.
“The death of Somtochukwu is one too many and a collective shock to Ndi Igbo. A near-impenetrable sense of impunity of being above the usual rules and laws, has become a defining feature of Okorocha’s administration.”
“Anyone who presents a threat to that impunity is ostensibly attacked, dismissed, abused, pummeled, and may be killed.”
Owerri indigenes cry out
Felix Ngoka, the president general of Owerri Community Assembly; and Chinedu Akuche, former Owerri Municipal Area Council chairman; appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the senseless killing and destruction of properties in Owerri.
They lamented the force used by the state on its citizens and called on the Presidency to ensure peace in Imo State.
They alleged the military and the police carted away many they killed in their Hilux van to an unknown destination.
They also listed those who received injuries to include: Michael Ibeawuchi, Chinedu Ibeawuchi, Chukwuemeka Samuel, Sabastine Oparaku, Ifeanyi Osuji, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, Leonard Osuji, and one unidentified, unaccompanied young man shot at the head, lying unconscious and couldn’t disclose his identity.
NOPRIN petitions Buhari
Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), a network of 49 civil society organisations nationwide, also urged Buhari to order a prompt, impartial, and exhaustive investigation on the issue.
It argued in a petition written to Buhari that the deployment of soldiers was unlawful and unwarranted since it was purely a civil dispute.
The petition, which was signed by NOPRIN National Coordinator, Okechukwu Nwanguma, alleged that the brazen display of executive lawlessness and impunity has become the hallmark of Okorocha’s administration.
“This is not the first time that the Governor of Imo State would unleash savage violence on the people he ought to be governing, targeting, especially critics and political opponents over disputes which are subjects of pending judicial proceedings,” NOPRIN said.
“This cruel and self-serving act of terror resulted to the death of no less than three citizens, one of whom has been identified as Somtochukwu Ibeanusi a 10-year-old boy who was helping his parents to evacuate their goods trapped inside their shop.”
Background
“With the people languishing in anguish and poverty, [Okorocha] decided to relocate the Owerri Main Market being a traditional market known as Ekeukwu Owerri, from the Owerri Municipal Council … to Egbeada in Ubomiri, Mbaitoli Local Government Area.
“Meanwhile, the stalls and structures in the market were built by private estate developers whom the old Owerri Local Government Area and later Owerri Municipal Council contracted to build and operate the market for a period of 99 years in order to recoup their investment.
“Those businessmen and women who invested their funds in the building of the market stalls are now in danger of losing their life investments.
“Not even a protest by over 1,000 Owerri women, dressed in black, or letters of appeal by the traders in the Owerri Main Market, would appease or assuage the governor or make him change his mind.
“He vowed to demolish the market with effect from August 1, 2016 and that no power on earth could stop him.
“Sometime in 2013, the governor came up with the idea after building his mini Government House on a land he fraudulently and forcefully acquired from indigenes of Orji and Mbieri at a place called Spibart Road.
“[Okorocha], who sees himself as the owner of all the lands in Imo State by the virtue of the Land Use Act, sought to remove the mechanics from their Orji and Nekede mechanic villages.
“The mechanics protested, informing [him] that the two mechanic villages were so captured and designated in the Owerri Development master plan by Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA).
“They informed him that they have expended huge sums of money, building up and developing their mechanic shades, installing some High Technological Machines, some of which were burrowed underground and which could get damaged should they be removed.
“The mechanics complained that they obtained approval from the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) to build their shades and even residential houses where a good number of them and their families reside.
“They told the governor that they hold valid statutory Certificates of Occupancy (C of Os) duly issued to them by the Government of Imo State which had not been revoked.
“They pleaded with the governor to consider the harsh conditions of the country’s economy and allow them to stay in their workshops and especially as the alleged proposed site for their relocation in Avu had not been developed and till date there are neither roads, water, light nor any other form of infrastructure being put in place for them to becoming an alternative of their mechanic villages.
“The governor ignored all these essentially as his desire was to acquire the lands whereby the Orji Mechanic Village situate for expansion of his kingdom on earth being his residential house at Spibart Road, which is close to the Mechanic Village.
“On or about July 14, 2016, [Okorocha] after the attempt to persuade the mechanics at Orji Mechanic Village to vacate so as to enable him expand his kingdom failed, had a general meeting with all the mechanics, numbering about 5,000 in attendance.
“As expected, the meeting became very rowdy with the young mechanics shouting out their opposition to being relocated.”
“Information in the public domain and from the accounts of some of the mechanics who were eye witnesses had it that the governor was so enraged that he physically assaulted one of the mechanics who appeared stubborn to him.
“At this juncture, the mechanics scampered for safety with everybody running for his dear life.
“Okorocha seized the opportunity to invite the demolition team made up of four excavators and three caterpillars and they came to Orji Mechanic Village and demolished it completely without leaving any structure standing.
“None of the mechanics was able to remove a pin from his workshop; hence they lost their means of livelihood and investments in a twinkle of an eye. For some time, the governor barricaded the entire area with lorry loads of mobile policemen and members of the Nigerian army from the 34 Base Artillery Brigade Obinze.”
Okorocha defends position
When TheNiche contacted Imo State police spokesman, Andrew Enwerenem, he said he could not speak on the issue, adding that he was attending a course in Abuja and could not give the number of Police Commissioner. Chris Ezike, as he had promised.
But when Ezike was commenting on the demolition on Channels Television, he claimed there was no loss of lives.
Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, insisted that “even the boy reported to have died has nothing to do with the demolition.
“The demolition was at Douglas Road but the boy was said to have died at Mbaise Road by Wethedral and when hoodlums began to fight themselves over their attempts to go to Ama-Hausa (Hausa quarters) to loot dollars.
According to him, Owerri people are happy with development in Owerri, courtesy of Okorocha.
“After all, the PDP governments in the state for 12 years had tried to relocate Ekeukwu Market but could not do so because they lacked the political will and were not keen in developing the state.
“They were only interested in sharing the money, drinking MOET, XO, Hennessy and having Gala nights.”
