Gov Rochas, Leave Eke Ukwu Owerri Alone And Relocate Ama-Hausa
The Eke Ukwu Market in Owerri Municipal Council has turned to an ancestral monument not only in Owerri and Imo State, but in Igboland in general. To relocate it is not ideal, and to great somewhat shows lack of prudence, which should not come from a cultured and renowned Igbo elite like Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Baltasar Gracian, the 17th Century sage, in his pocket mirror for heroes noted that “Philip II governed the entire world from the throne of his prudence, astonishing the ages. If his unconquered father was a model of energy, Philip was a paradigm of prudence…. This sort of novelty has helped the well-advised win a place in the roll of the great. Without leaving their own art, the ingenious leave the common path and take, even in professions grey with age, new steps toward eminence.”
This witty admonition is most needed in today’s Imo State under Governor Rochas Okorocha. It seems he wants to be the first Governor that did every good and every wrong thing in the State. As if he wants to write his name in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most recognized champion in every binary opposite in Imo State, and thus acts like a godsend epochal angel and sometimes a primeval ‘demon’ from the realm of God. These to the amazement of Imolites, to phantom the real image of their Governor, all remain mouth-agape watching the bi-focalised agent of light and ‘darkness’ rage, rave and rant in the State; in all spheres of life.
Prudence includes farsightedness, forethought, judiciousness, carefulness, caution, practicality and discretion- Some of these are lacking in most of the primacy-oriented activities of Governor Okorocha in Imo State. However, I think Gov. Rochas means well for Imolites but lacks the wisdom to actualize his projects, and this is most manifest in his determination to relocate Eke Ukwu Market. He needs proper direction from those who he thinks hate him; he may find it difficult to assemble them together and seek for proper and critical advice in order to better his administration, as well as deliver the needed dividends of democracy to Imo people. To do this he needs prudence!
Prudence is simply the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason, being sagacious in the management of affairs, being skilful and of good judgement in the use of resources; being cautious and wary before dangers and risks, knowing the boundary between the ancient landmarks and modernisation, etc. In knowing the landmarks between the ancient and the modern lies the ancient knowledge that should not been thrown overboard. This ancient knowledge must be part of our modern understanding and should not be abused as if those who created the Eke Ukwu Owerri were men without wisdom. Society must grow in prudence and administrators must administer in prudence. Hence, talking of this relocation in the face of the present hard economy is to say the least, an action bereaved of prudence.
Thus, what matters is not being first in everything as Governor Okorocha is wont to, but prudence. Primacy in every doable thing (and in binary opposites) does not give eminence, but prudence does. With prudence, he can alter some changes in the present structure and operations of the Eke Ukwu Market without relocating it.
Like prudence, eminence is simply the position of prominence (popularity) or superiority, and thus entails being eminent, prominent and lofty. The latter (loftiness), is the central danger in seeking to be eminent and prominent in everything as Okorocha is in Imo State, as it disposes one also to having haughty overbearing manners and breach of etiquettes, which contravenes pre-existing traditions of the land and thus leads to social chaos. The focus of the eminence seeker is always in “what again to be first in,” and with little or no forethought and farsightedness on the implications of the eminence sought for. Thus the need of prudence.
In his zeal and enthusiasm to be first in everything in the State, Governor Okorocha has ruined even the little good records he managed to make in the eyes of his first-timer admirers. He has stepped on the toes of the great and the nobody, of the gods and man, of ghosts and humans, of ancestors and their kinsmen, of royalties and bondsmen, of the rich and poor. And these are the risks of seeking for eminence, which results in loftiness in actions and behaviours.
The recent rumour of ghost slapping the Governor is also eminence, as Okorocha has become also the first Governor in the history of Nigeria and Imo State to be rumoured to have been slapped by an unseen hand. Hope he will change and understand that the gods that set him free are wise, and used that as last chance warning.
To this effect, Baltasar Gracian also said that “men of great abilities are slow to act, for it is easier to avoid occasions for committing yourself than to come well out of a commitment. Such occasions test you’ve your judgement; it is safer to avoid them than to emerge victorious from them. One obligation leads to a greater one, and you come very near to the brink of disaster.”
I am sure that the rumour that goes round the State of spectral slap, is inaugural to the disaster ahead of Governor Okorocha, as he is wont in his search and zeal to be prime in everything in the State- To demolish people’s structures with no aesthetical, developmental or environmental hazard justifications, to demolish Grottos with no qualms of conscience as well as places of worship and Sanctums of the Most High God despite worshippers plea for mercy and tears raised to Heaven for vengeance and Divine judgement, to divide united Royal Kingdoms created by ancestors that have virtually turned gods of the lands, to relocate ancestral markets out of their primordial locations and build his own fancies.
The slap as it was rumoured, I am sure is yet to come. If he insists in the relocation of Eke Ukwu Market, and if Okorocha does this, it mounts to desecration of ancestral sacredness. Therefore I foresee another slap coming from the gods and goddess of the Eke Ukwu market. Governor Okorocha will profane the sacred and be booked for disaster, especially in his next move to be Premier in the State a fortnight ahead, come September. I believe he does not cherish eminence and prominence more than his life, and must not dance the surugede music meant for the spirits as he moves the Eke Onunwa or Eke Ukwu Market out of the ancestral location.
It behoves to ask, what are the ecological and economical effects of removing Eke Ukwu Market in the State? Does a society stay without market? Does the market hold Okorocha from fulfilling his promises of factory, industry, and employment in the State? When His Excellency, Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha remarked that Okorocha cannot attract even a toothpick industry in the State, it was seen as an attack of a political demagogue, but has he done any today?
What is the reason for relocating Eke Ukwu Market in Owerri while Ama-Hausa is flourishing? Is Ama-Hausa in the master plan of Owerri Capital Territory? Is the recent Hausa market near Arugo Park in the master plan or assigned by any legal authority in the State? If not, why are they still there and intact while other markets and workshops are relocated? Why are these not relocated like the other markets and artisans’ villages that Gov Okorocha has relocated? Or perhaps, he has soft sports for the Hausas there than co-Imolites.
If Governor Okorocha is unbiased in his total transformation in Owerri Municipality, if he really wants and means just acts in his demolitions and relocation bids, let him first relocate Ama-Hausa out of Owerri Municipality, let him relocate the Hausa market at Arugo Park as well as the Hausa Market at Obinze, which started as safety-cover near military barracks, when Imolites reacted to the pogroms on Igbos in the North during Governors Uzor Kalu and Achike Udenwa’s regime.
How can such new markets remain, while ancestral markets as Eke Ukwu are removed from the soils of their foundation? It is not cultural and patriotic. Disaster most deadly than Ghost slap is imminent, lurking for an abominable venture, if Okorocha finally relocates Eke Ukwu Market. To be forewarned is to be forearmed- Okorocha, leave Eke Ukwu Market alone and relocate Ama-Hausa.
The relocation of Eke Ukwu Owerri is not necessary, but if Gov Okorocha feels the market is overcrowded, unbecoming of a municipal city and poses security dangers, he should relocate Ama-Hausa to Obinze and take part of the Eke Ukwu Market to the present site of Ama-Hausa as annex to the ancestral market. This I believe is most ideal and a modernisation that both man and the gods of the land will find no objection to.