The controversial removal of popular Abakaliki Street, in highbrow Awka Central Business District of Anambra State and re-naming it as Club Road, has been resurrected, deepening fresh face-off between Ebonyi and Anambra states, with stakeholders calling for reversal to avoid reprisal.
The Willie Obiano administration had, about five years ago, flagged off the Abakaliki Street, which had existed for about two decades, only to buckle under pressure to re-name it Club Road to the displeasure of indigenes of Abakaliki and the entire Ebonyi State.
Speaking to newsmen on the import of the restoration of the street name, the founder of Abakaliki Street and Patron of Ebonyians in Anambra State, Peter Uzor, said he came to Awka in 1971 to serve as an apprentice carpenter and became the first person to inhabit the vast forest in 1990 when he created the access road.
Uzor pointed out that he built an eight-room apartment and relocated to No.1 Abakaliki Street after the then Awka South Council approved the registration of the Abakaliki Street on his payment of requisite fees.
He pointed out that he has not reneged to hire a caterpillar to maintain the street and pay the necessary yearly renewal fees, as agreed with the council to the detriment of his wife and children’s education for years.
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