From George Onyejiuwa,Owerri
Owerri women, yesterday, trooped out in their hundreds to protest the decision of the state government to relocate the Ekeukwu Owerri Market.
The women, who were all clad in traditional mourning clothes had, as early as 8:00a.m assembled at Ekeukwu Owerri, along Douglas Road, from where they marched to Okigwe Road and sang solidarity songs.
The women occupied the Okigwe Road Roundabout close to the Government House and caused traffic gridlock as vehicles which came from Bank Road and Wethedral Road were stuck for several hours. President of Owerri Women, Mrs. Ifeoma Anogu disclosed they were on the streets to protest Governor Rochas Okorocha’s decision to relocate the ancestral market of the Owerri people to Egbeda and that he wants to renovate and remodel it.
In a swift reaction, the state government described the protest, as ‘highly regrettable’.
A statement issued by Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo said, “the traders should be happy about this development as they are not doing themselves any good if they do not see the wisdom in what the government was doing with regard to the relocation of the market to a more convenient place.
“It is highly regrettable that a group of women could be deceived into carrying out a protest that could be rightly described as uncalled for, over the state government’s good intention to relocate Ekeukwu market to a better place.
“It is equally on record that successive governments in the state had also tried to move the market out of its current location to a more convenient place, but such previous efforts had also been frustrated by this kind of protest.”
