The Hausa Community in Owerri has dared Governor Rochas Okorocha, saying that his effort to relocate it from its Ama-Hausa abode along Douglas Road in the state capital amounts to a waste of time.

Leader of the Hausa Community in Imo, Alh. Baba Sule, Sarkin Hausawa Owerri, yesterday described the said plan by Gov. Okorocha’s administration to relocate the northern community as an unrealistic one.

The octogenarian in an interview with Nigerian Pilot Saturday expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment over the governor’s plans, stating that the present location of the Hausa community at Douglas Road was given to them since 1926 even before Lord Douglas and Wetheral came to Owerri as colonial District Officers.

Insisting that their present abode is their permanent home in Imo State, Alh. Sule recalled that the initial residence of the Hausas in the state was a place at present-day Isiala Mbano LGA before their forebears finally settled in Owerri.

According to him, his forefather, and father were departed leaders of the Hausa community in Imo State were medicine men who helped the people of Owerri in times of travail which made them to allocate the present site to them as a permanent homeland.

According to the Sarkin Hausawa, “Nobody, government or individual can move us away from here or confiscate our land” disclosed that his family came all the way from Kano State to Owerri on foot long before the civil war and have remained till date.

“I have everything it takes to educate anybody about Owerri. I have been here all my life and can never leave Ama Hausa. Nobody can force me out of this place; it is our land and permanent home.”

He further maintained that his people and the indigenes have over the years lived in harmony and will continue to do so, stressing that what is needed for development in every part of the country is peaceful coexistence of all people irrespective of religious and tribal differences.

The Islamic chieftain used the occasion to declare that there is no Boko Haram within the Hausa community in Imo and there would not be any as they are vigilant to ensure there is no infiltration by the dreaded sect.

Nigerian Pilot Saturday recalled that Gov. Okorocha had recently announced his administration’s plans to relocate the Hausa community and Eke-Ukwu Owerre Market, both on Douglas Road, to a new site; a move which the paper said has continued to generate heat among the populace of the municipality.

•Photo shows Governor Okorocha.

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