Rivers crisis: Fubara blasts police over protest clampdown

The suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, has slammed the Nigeria Police over their alleged high-handedness and clampdown on peaceful demonstrators in parts of Rivers State, as political tension continues to escalate in the oil-rich South-South state.

This followed two separate protests by women’s groups who took to the streets in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area and Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State to express their feelings about the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

The Port Harcourt protesters were in support of the emergency rule while the Ahoada East protesters called for the reinstatement of Fubara.

Last Friday, a group of women under the aegis of Rivers Women Unite for Sim protested against the emergency rule in the state and demanded the reinstatement of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

The women carrying out the latest protest under the auspices of ‘Rivers Women for Peace and Good Governance’, mostly dressed in white, said the emergency rule was constitutional.

They also denied being hired to support emergency rule in the state, even as they declared their support for President Bola Tinubu.

The women had gathered at the Garrison junction at about 7.30am on Monday, marched through Aba Road and arrived at the popular Isaac Park in Port Harcourt.

They sang and displayed placards with several inscriptions to drive home their message.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read,” Emergency rule is Constitutional,” “Rivers women voted for you but you made us your slaves”, “ Investigate Fubara’s bloated contracts award”, “say no to dictatorship”, “Rivers women need peace in our state”, “we support Tinubu”, among others.

Led by the former commissioner for Social Welfare in the state, Mrs Inime Aguma, and others, the protesters claimed that the state of emergency had brought relative calm and peace to Rivers since the emergency regime.

Mrs Aguma, speaking to journalists after the rally, expressed support for the Sole Administrator of Rivers State Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (retd.), saying his leadership has brought peace and good governance in the State.

She stated, “Gathered here are Rivers women who need peace in Rivers State. We are gathered here because of the anomalies in our system.

“We also thank the President for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State. We are grateful and pleased with it and living well with it.

“We said this because our democratic structure was decimated, the House of Assembly was left comatose and there cannot be any democracy with only two arms of government working.

“We know the doctrine of separation of powers, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. For over two years, the legislature was clamped down; we have a big wound that needs to heal.

“The House of Assembly was burnt down because of rumours of impeachment and while that was going on, the assembly complex was demolished, the taxpayers’ money was spent; that is an aberration.”

She added, “Despite such an incident, there was no investigation. Recently, we have heard the former Head of Service, Dr. George Nwaeke, mention some allegations against the former government. We want the police to follow up on such allegations.

“Let us not be emotional and sentimental about facts. We have not had a government in Rivers State.”

Meanwhile, the situation at the Ahoada protest did not go down well as security operatives fired teargas at the women protesting against the emergency rule in Rivers State and the reinstatement of the suspended governor.

Around 200 protesters from Elleye and Engine communities in Ahoada East Local Government Area marched to condemn the appointment of a sole administrator in the state.

While the women from Ahoada were teargassed during their demonstration, members of the ‘Women for Peace and Good Governance’ group, who held a rally in Port Harcourt in support of the emergency rule, carried out their activities peacefully without any interference.

As the pro-Fubara women marched and chanted solidarity songs, they held placards with various messages, even as security operatives, including police officers, attempted to stop their progress.

Some of the placards bore messages such as “Ibas leave us alone” and “Our democracy is threatened,” among others.

It was further observed that after the women refused to back down from the protest, security operatives, including the police, fired teargas to disperse them, causing the protesters to flee in different directions.

A viral video that later surfaced online showed emotional scenes as some women were seen crying after inhaling the teargas. They insisted they wanted Governor Fubara reinstated to power.

An elderly woman without a brassiere was spotted in the video being supported by others who held her by the hand.

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In the same footage, soldiers were seen attempting to disperse the crowd, pushing the women back and forcefully removing the banners and placards they were displaying.

One of the women said, “We are here to tell President Bola Tinubu that since he declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, it has not been easy. We, the women, are hungry; we are suffering and dying.

“Sim is our hope. We say bring back our Governor. We love him. We say no to emergency rule in Rivers State. We voted for Sim, not sole administrator. We don’t want a caretaker.

“Let the FCT Minister remain in Abuja and leave Sim alone.”

Soon after, the chorus of ‘We want Fubara, we want Fubara’ filled the air while three of the elderly women knelt on the floor saying, “We want peace in Rivers State”.

Reacting to the twin protest, Special Adviser to the suspended Governor on Electronics Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, hailed the pro-Fubara protesters, describing them as heroes of democracy.

Omatsogunwa, however, berated the women in Port Harcourt who supported the emergency rule and backed the appointment of a sole administrator in the state.

He also slammed the police for the unequal treatment of the protesters, firing teargas at one and providing security for the other.

He stated, “First and foremost, I want to thank the women in Ahoada for standing and fighting for democracy. And it is like the police have two standards for the same activity right now.

“You can see old women who came out in Ahoada to exercise their right to protest when they see that things are not going well, the police teargassed them. The police teargassed them to the extent that one of them, an old woman, fainted.

“While the ones in Port Harcourt here that said they support illegality and said they support the King Solomon son-division situation that said let us kill the child so that we can prove the owner, they were guarded, protected and directed by the police.

“So I tell you, those women who protested in Port Harcourt, I think they don’t mean well for the state, and the ones that protested in Ahoada, I say kudos. They are the heroes of democracy.”

Fubara’s aide added, “I think the whole world should keep an eye on the state Commissioner of Police and the sole administrator.

“When the sole administrator came here, he said there was no problem in the state. Maybe he has another agenda because we learnt he is nursing a governorship ambition in his own Cross River State, so he needs to also gather some money just to justify it.”

The political crisis in the oil-rich state had escalated into a full-blown conflict before President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Tinubu further appointed Ibas as the sole administrator of the state for an initial period of six months.

This directive was supported by the Senate and House of Representatives through a voice vote.

Consequently, 11 PDP governors sued the President and the National Assembly before the Supreme Court, challenging the President’s powers to declare an emergency rule and suspend elected officials in a state

The PDP governors have further engaged 11 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and six other attorneys to battle the Federal Government at the Supreme Court on what powers the President has to declare emergency rule in a state and suspend a democratically elected institution of the state.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has sprung into action and commenced drafting the response of President Bola Tinubu to the Peoples Democratic Party’s governors’ suit challenging the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.

The Punch