*Fubara Knocks Police Over Protest Clampdown
RIVERS State on Monday, April 14, witnessed some protest, as women, under the umbrella of Rivers Women Unite for Sim, protested in the Ahoada area of the state, demanding the reinstatement of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, even as another group in Port Harcourt rallied support for the state of emergency rule in the state.
The supporters of the emergency rule, bearing various placards with the inscriptions, ‘Rivers Women for Peace and Good Governance,’ ‘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, and wearing white attire, declared emergency rule as constitutional.
Though they denied being hired to support emergency rule in the state, but they expressed support for President Bola Tinubu.
Led by a former commissioner for Social Welfare, Mrs. Inime Aguma, and others, the protesters insisted that emergency rule has brought relative calm and peace to the sthat since it was declared on March 18 by the President.
Conversely, the pro-Fubara protesters, dressed in black top and native wrapper, assembled and walked from Mbiama Junction, bordering Rivers and Bayelsa states.
They carried placards, with various inscriptions, such as ‘Ibas, leave us alone,’ ‘We are in democracy,’ ‘Widows are crying bring back our governor,’ ‘Ibas, respect the Constitution,’ ‘End emergency rule in Rivers State,’ ‘Our democracy under threat,’ ‘Bring back our Sim,’, ‘Bring back our governor,’ ‘Rivers is peaceful,’ ‘Restore our democracy now,’ among others.
The protesters danced as they sang ‘Take Wike and give us Sim card,’ ‘You better take Wike and give us Sim card,’ marching as they waved the national flag along the East/West road.
Some of the aged ones among them were half naked, stripping off their blouses and left with only bras on, as they chorused ‘No Sim, no Rivers State.’
Meanwhile, the suspended governor has criticised the alleged high-handedness and clampdown by the Police, who fired teargas at the over 200 protesting women from Elleye and Engine communities in Ahoada East Local Council, after they refused heed order to disperse by security operatives, including the Police and soldiers.
They were subsequently forced to flee in different directions, with some of them weeping after inhaling the teargas.
Reacting to the protests, Special Adviser to Fubara on Electronics Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, described the Ahoada protesters as heroes of democracy, while criticising those that protested in Port Harcourt in support of emergency rule and appointment of a sole administrator, as well as the Police for the unequal treatment of the protesters, by firing teargas at one and providing security for the other.
Omatsogunwa 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, to the extent that one of them, an old woman, fainted, while the ones in Port Harcourt here that said they support illegality 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.”
