HAS GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA COMMITTED A MORTAL SIN?

Changing Assumpta Avenue to Muhammad Buhari Rd is a mortal sin against God in my opinion. It is the seventh sin against the holy spirit and a mortal crime against the city of Owerri and the people of Imo state.

This road was named after the Assumpta Catholic cathedral in Owerri.I will not take you through the unequal contribution of the Catholic church to the advancement of governor Okorocha's people.That will be a waste of time and space.

Let me however remind governor Okorocha that the people of Owerri gave that whole part of the city to Catholic missionaries long before the city took its structural shape and long before governor Okorocha's father was born.

Maria Assumpta cathedral became an apostolic vicariate in conjunction with Onitsha in 1934.It was the apostolic vicariate of Onitsha-Owerri until its split from Onitsha in 1948.It went on to became a full time diocese in 1950.The pioneer Bishop of that diocese;Joseph Brendan Whelan secured that area and started the construction of the church  more than a decade before the governor was born.

This same bishop was the Irish Catholic bishop who was imprisoned by the federal government led by Col Yakubu Gowon for six months and later deported at the end of the Nigerian-Biafran war in 1970.His only offence was that he refused to abandon his church, congregation and worked very hard  to prevent their annihilation during the Biafran war.
Such were the services the Catholics and their representatives rendered to Owerri and governor Okorocha's people at the time of their need.

On the other hand,let's examine Muhammadu Buhari's historical service to Owerri and it's people.

Buhari was a company commander with the Nigerian 16th Brigade that captured Owerri in October 1968 after shelling the city to submission.He was among the Nigerian troops trapped in the city and surrounded by Biafran forces for six months until they managed to pull out in April 1969 in what remains the biggest military battle during the Biafran war and one of the biggest military siege in this modern world.

When the Biafrans killed the Brigade's 2ic Major Ted Hamman,Buhari became the second in command of the Brigade-under the command of Col. EA.Etuk- that later returned to retake Owerri in 1970.

The mass graves discovered in Owerri when  the 16th Brigade pulled out would remain a part of Buhari's records in that city forever.
That bloody record has been dwarfed by  Governor Okorocha renaming this road dedicated to God and the church;Muhammadu Buhari Road.

The graves of thousands who died in defense of  Owerri have been desecrated.The  sufferings of Bishop Joseph Brendan Whelan in Nigeria prison and the 132 years services of the church to the people has been called into question.

I dont think it is too late for the governor to repent in order to avoid God withdrawing his saving grace upon him.

Those close to him should tell him to make haste and repent, confess his sins before it is too late.

WRITTEN BY: MBE NWANIGA.