Eke Ukwu Owerre Market

Douglas Road: A Sardonic Enclave of Miscreants & Voodoos

Douglas is a popular road in Owerri, the capital of Imo State which shares a similar name with the official domain of number one citizen in the state, the Douglas House. It is a place that harbours individuals with different intentions.

Majority of the people using the road are mostly commercial vehicle Drivers and commuters. It is the only axis that shelters one of the most popular ancestral markets in Igbo land, ‘Eke Ukwu Owere’.

Before now, residents of Owerri desired to go to Douglas road to purchase one item or the other at the village Ekeonunwa market with ease. Regrettably, going to Douglas road nowadays is not only suicidal but disastrous. It is a perilous engagement to the world of voodoos.
In Genesis 19 Vs 24–25, “Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land.”

The road is a reflection of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah that engaged themselves into unimaginable, unheard of and immoral activities. It is indeed a sardonic enclave of cross section of miscreants across Nigeria. Not only that the road is riddled with gullies and hollows, but a typical dungeon for armed robbers, phone snatchers, assassins and rapists. A driver or commuter will not only veer off his route, if not familiar with the area, but the person may not end well in the journey.

As a stranger, you will labour and wander in vain with sorrow and gnashing of teeth as dividends, once the street urchins ‘treat your fuck-up’ as they always chorus during their looting prey at Douglas road.

In short, going to Douglas road from anywhere could be likened to a journey through the valley of the shadow of death. The federal and state roads are miserable and isolated, but the illegal activities, such as harassment, assault, theft and cult related activities going on around Douglas-Mbaise road adjoining; Ama-Housa, Rotibi, Edede and Mere Streets respectively have remained uncheckmated.

All these unabated and unmitigated disturbances of the hoodlums will cause a curious mind to begin to wonder if these legions of security personnel littering around the town have been overwhelmed by the ‘street war lords’, how long will the activities of the miscreants continue, what efforts have security agencies provided to nip the ugly trend in the bud? No doubt, so many innocent citizens of the state as well as visitors have lost their lives along this SARDONIC Douglas road in the past, yet it appears that little or nothing is on the line to cushion the menace.

By Ikenna ONUOHA (08038129192)