Governor
Rochas Okorocha Tuesday, bowed to the superior fire power of the fiery
Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Dr.
Anthony J. V. Obinna, over the obnoxious abortion law.
The
Governor, who retraced his locus when he addressed members of the State
House of Assembly, appealed to the lawmakers to immediately commence the
processes of expunging the offending sections of the obnoxious law.
“I
have always loved children. I fell for this law as soon as I saw the
safeguards it contained for the protection of our women,” Okorocha
explained.
According to the Governor, a law is as good as the
acceptability by the people for which it was made and used the
opportunity to appeal to the lawmakers to repeal the offending sections
of the law.
I
make this appeal because my political opponents are waiting patiently
for the outcome of this unfortunate abortion saga. It is no worth the
trouble to keep this law longer than necessary,"
Okorocha said.
It
was his considered opinion that the law unfortunately touched on the
sensibility of church leaders, who he claimed, remained the pillars of
his administration.
Before anchoring his speech on the abortion
law, the Governor had earlier given a rundown of what he termed “the
successes of my administration in the past two years and half.”
While
saying that government had already released N5 billion to the contracting
firm handling the Akachi Towers, Okorocha however expressed regret that
the project had suffered some setback.
“Over 350 kilometers of
rural roads have been tarred. All projects started by this
administration will be completed within the tenure of this
administration,” Okorocha promised.
Responding, the Deputy
Speaker, Mr. Donates Ozoemena, who also superintended over the day’s
sitting, said the House was roundly misunderstood by the citizenry.
“We
had the noblest of intention when we passed the Bill. It went through
the processes of law making. We promise to repeal this law to conform to
the wishes of Imo people,” Ozoemena said. It would be recalled that
this vexatious law was signed by Okorocha since May 29, 2012, and
remained silent until Dr. Phillip Njemanze drew the attention of
Archbishop Obinna to it.
Addressing newsmen last Friday,
Archbishop Obinna not only demanded that the offending abortion law
be repealed but had also held a meeting with his priests to strategize
on how to battle the anti-life legislation.
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