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Boy, 12, shot dead, 8 injured as traders, natives resist demolition of main market

Stories from GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri

Twelve-year-old Somtochukwu, the son of a petty trader in Owerri, was yesterday allegedly shot dead by soldiers brought in by the Imo State Government to provide security cover for the men it engaged to demolish the Owerri Main Market.

Several other people, including the former youth leader of Owerri, Leoard Ebubeagu and seven others, sustained bullet wounds as the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha kept his promise to forcefully eject the traders at the ancestral market and part of the popular Ama Hausa quarters also along Douglas Road in the city.

Sunday Sun gathered that youths of Ohaji/Egbema were allegedly hired by the Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations), Mr. Kingsley Uju, to thwart the resistance of the youths of Owerri, who tried to stop the demolition of the market. It was further learnt that the hired youths allegedly looted the wares of the traders who could not remove their goods from their shops before the commencement of the demolition exercise.

Governor Okorocha had last Thursday issued a 24-hour-quit order to owners of shops in the market, popularly known as Ekeukwu Owere, to vacate the market or have their wares destroyed in the demolition exercise. 

But, as early as 6 .30am, over 200 armed security agents from the Army, Department of State Services, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Imo State Security Network and the Imo Community Watch, had already cordoned off Douglas Road where the market is located. Similarly, Mbaise Road, Emmanuel College junction and Fire Service Roundabout leading to Egbu/ Mbaise Road were equally manned by armed security agents.

The security agents had shot sporadically into the air supported by the Ohaji/Egbema youths, who carried cudgels in a bid to prevent the traders, especially women from retrieving their wares. The action of the youths from Ohaji/Egbema, with the support of the security agents caused a clash between them and the youths of Owerri town and the affected traders. In the ensuing melee, Somtochukwu, who was trying to retrieve his mother’s wares was shot dead by one of the soldiers. Leonard Ebubeagu was shot on one of his legs and seven other persons also sustained gunshot wounds. 

Ugo Mere, one of the youth leaders from Umuonyeche Owerri, told Sunday Sun: “By 6.30a.m (yesterday), we discovered that the police and other security agents who were armed had blocked all the access roads leading to Douglas Road. We also noticed that about four bulldozers had arrived the market. Before we knew what was happening, the boys from Ohaji/Egbema had started smashing open the lock-up shops at the market including those at Rotibi Street across Douglas road but the Owerri youths had to repel them. After awhile they reinforced and came back in larger numbers, accompanied by the armed security agents. It was in the resulting skirmish that one young boy, Somtochukwu, was shot dead instantly. Seven other persons sustained gunshot wounds including our former youth president Leonard Ebubeagu, who was shot on one of his legs.”

Also, lamenting the situation, Madam Abigail Nkwo, said that she only got to know about the sudden quit order late Friday night as she had been away for about two weeks.

“I lost all my goods because I deal in foodstuff and worst of all was that the army people would not allow anybody to get their items even when the demolition had not gotten to the place. I don’t know what kind of government this is, a government that has been causing the people pain. I learnt that the governor said that he wants to expand the road and that is why he has decided to demolish the place,” she said and rhetorically asked, “Are we going to eat road?”

It was the same sad story for Jonas Eke who deals in clothing materials. He decried the activities of the government which he said no matter how well intentioned had robbed the people of their source of livelihood.

“I don’t understand what Okorocha wants us to do because right now, I have lost all the materials I have in my shop because before I came, they had broken it open and looted the goods and I had just restocked it. The governor said we should go to Egbeda, but that place is not even ready and now my shop has been demolished because it is located in one of the buildings that was first demolished by the bulldozers,” Eke lamented.

Meanwhile, the President General of the Owerri Community Assembly, Felix Ngoka, a knight in the Anglican Communion, described the demolition of the ancestral market of the Owerri people as an act of lawlessness, saying that the matter was already before the court of law which had earlier granted an injunction restraining the governor from interfering with the market until the substantive suit filed against the government was disposed of.

“The matter is still in court and the court gave an injunction restraining the government from interfering with the market, but what the governor has done today is nothing but lawlessness when the matter has not been determined by the court of law.

We are law abiding people and you saw how the governor used armed security agents and thugs to forcefully eject the people of Owerri from their ancestral market,” Ngoka said.

He added that the governor had earlier informed them that he wanted to modernize the market last year but we he was told that place is an ancestral market where the women of Owere sell their vegetables and other foodstuff, that it was the only market that Owerri people have, and that it had been existing for almost 200 years even before Nigeria became a country. Recently, the governor, he said, had indicated that he wanted to build a modern school on the site of the market, stating that the traders should relocate to Ohii in Egbeada in Mbaitoli Local Government Area. 

Ngoka further stated that they had suggested to the state governor a number of times to fence off the market from the road in order to reduce the traffic grid lock experienced on Douglas Road by street traders but that he had refused to do that because he has a special interest in the location of the market.

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Why we moved Owerri market –Imo govt

The Imo State government has given clarifications on why it decided to demolish the age-old main market in Owerri Municipal Council Area, as the first step towards concretising its relocation to another site at Ohii, Egbeada in Mbaitoli Local Government Area.

In a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Imo State Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the government stated the relocation of the market was in line with the urban renewal programme of the Rochas Okorocha administration.

The statement reads in part: “The market was moved Saturday morning (yesterday). For almost two years the government had announced its good intention to relocate the market to a more conducive site, in the spirit of its Urban Renewal Pursuit.

“The government has taken this noble action to equally recover Douglas Road that connects the state with other neighbouring states which has remained a refuse dump for the traders in the market, and to deal once and for all, with the prevalent criminal activities in the area like robbery, cultism and kidnapping.

“The action was a peaceful one and with the successful relocation of the Market to a better area, the government will now go ahead to rebuild Douglas road and realize its lofty dream of making Owerri a befitting city.”

The government also debunked claims that the demolition exercise had entailed violence, stating that online media reports which gave the impression that the exercise was not peaceful were the “deliberate and concerted efforts by some elements who do not love progress, and want to use the relocation of the Ekeukwu Owerri market to blackmail the government of the day and perhaps cause undue tension in the state.”

It further noted: “These people who have refused or failed to appreciate the good in relocating Ekeukwu market Owerri to a more acceptable area have been dishing out rumours including people being shot dead. These are wicked rumours.”

The statement emphasised that market is a property of the government and the decision to relocate it to a better place could not have been accountable for the reported death of a young boy.

“The security personnel around the market were there to ensure peace and they played that role professionally,” the government said.

 Source: The Sun