Osamagbe Imadiyi
Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor of Rivers State, has criticized the Nigeria Police for their alleged despotic behavior and crackdown on peaceful protesters in some parts of the state as political tensions in the oil-rich South-South state continue to rise. This came after women’s organizations staged two different demonstrations in Rivers State’s Ahoada East Local Government Area and Port Harcourt City Local Government Area to voice their disapproval of the state’s declaration of emergency.
The Ahoada East demonstrators demanded that Fubara be reinstated, while the Port Harcourt demonstrators supported the emergency rule. The majority-white women who participated in the most recent demonstration, which was organized by “Rivers Women for Peace and Good Governance,” claimed that the emergency rule was constitutional. Despite announcing their support for President Bola Tinubu, they also denied being hired to support emergency rule in the state.
Around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, the women assembled at the Garrison intersection, marched down Aba Road, and reached the well-known Isaac Park in Port Harcourt. They emphasized their message by singing and putting up placards with multiple inscriptions. Protesters led by Mrs. Inime Aguma, the state’s former commissioner for social welfare, and others asserted that Rivers had experienced relative peace and tranquility since the emergency regime. Speaking to reporters after the rally, Mrs. Aguma affirmed her support for Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (retd.), the sole administrator of Rivers State, claiming that his leadership has brought about peace and sound governance in the state.
Security personnel used tear gas on the women demonstrating against Rivers State’s emergency rule and the reinstatement of the suspended governor at the Ahoada protest, which did not go well. Security personnel, including the police, used tear gas to disperse the women who refused to leave the protest, sending the demonstrators running in various directions. Jerry Omatsogunwa, Special Advisor to the suspended Governor on Electronics Media, praised the pro-Fubara demonstrators in his response to the twin protest, calling them democratic heroes.
