Imo State Government to immortalise 10-year-old victim of Owerri market protest

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday said the famous Douglas Road, where the demolished Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market was located, as well as any other project that will be built on the plot of land, will be renamed after Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, the 10-year-old boy who was killed by a stray bullet during the demolition.

He said the exact place the boy was killed did not matter because the government had decided to honour him, though the circumstances were confusing.

Okorocha, who spoke at the Government House in Owerri, the state capital, when he hosted traditional rulers and leaders of Owerri, said he had been able to “liberate the people of Owerri from a wicked clique made up of one or two families that had held Owerri people in bondage”.

He said: “Government has decided to honour Somtochukwu, although the boy’s death was confusing because an action can’t be taking place on Douglas Road and the person died on Mbaise Road.

“No matter what happened, whatever be the case, since that boy died within that period of liberation, that boy must be honoured. This is besides the fact that Owerri leaders are mourning him, wore black, even to Catholic and Anglican churches. And if Owerri leaders can mourn a boy from Nnewi, Anambra State, that shows there is something great about that boy.

“For every activity at Ekeukwu and on Douglas Road, the boy will be honoured. This is because he died on the day of the event. That boy is more important than any Eke or Afor, Ekeukwu or Ekenta.

“So, Douglas Road and any project to be sited there will be named after Somtochukwu. The project will be named Somtochukwu and the road, Somtochukwu Road, in line with the way all of us are mourning that boy. I will not go back to a deity again by naming it Ekeukwu Road. Imo State has gone past that level.”

He added: “They (political opponents) are fighting me because I have liberated our people. What do I benefit by building a township school, rebuilding Emmanuel College, Akwakuma Girls School, Government College, Government Technical College, Owerri Girls School, inland roads, ICC, trade and investment centre, two flyovers, two tunnels, heroes’ square, roads?

“What do I benefit as Rochas Okorocha, if not for the development of Owerri? No governor has done, in the history of Owerri, what I have done for Owerri people? My crime is that I have liberated you people from bondage…”