Port Harcourt Youths Lead Peaceful Protest Amid Heavy Rain, Demand Government Reforms

In solidarity with the nationwide “#End Bad Governance Protest”, aggrieved Nigerians on Thursday, defied the heavy rainfall that wanted to disrupt their movement and embarked on a peaceful protest in streets of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

This comes as the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has reassured of sustaining the implementation of policies and programmes that will continue to make living better by the day for all residents in the State.

The protesters mostly youths in their thousands moved from the popular Pleasure Park along Port Harcourt -Aba Road through Isaac Boro Park to the Government House Port Harcourt.

During the movement, the protesters with Nigeria Flag were chanting songs of liberation, insisting that there should be a reformation of the system, calling the President, Bola Tinubu and other government officials to tackle the hardship and hunger biting hard on the society.

Though there were no record of violence or destruction of properties within the state, the youths said the protest will continue for the next nine days, commending the police and other security agencies for the peaceful cooperation during the movement which was terminated at about 1:30pm.

A leader of a section of the protesters who spoke with THISDAY along the Aba Road axis, said: “Since morning we have marched from Federal Secretariat to Government House peacefully, no hoodlums has come to hijack the protest and you can see we are going peacefully.

“Tomorrow we are meeting again at the Pleasure Park, move in to Ikwerre Road down to Oil Mill, Eleme axis. I am calling on all the youths to come out and support the movement to say No to Hardship, No to hunger, no to fuel hike and we say no to bad governance.

“There was no threat to our protest by the police or any other security agencies, they ensured peaceful environment. So far, they are friends for today, what we had in EndSars is different from today’s experience. They escorted us peacefully”.

A civil society group under the aegis of Rivers Civil Society Organisations (RIVCSO), speaking with journalists on Thursday, on the protest expressed solidarity “With all Nigerians who are suffering from one form of pain or the other, orchestrated and induced by the collapse of the nation’s economy which is fostered by Bad Governance”.

Chairman of RIVCSO who spoke on behalf of the group, Enefaa Georgewill said rather than a street match because  of the peculiarity of the environment occasioned by political tension created by alleged desperate politicians in the state, they decided to call for retrospection and sobriety from Nigerians, to look at how it keep getting wrong in the society. 

Georgewill said despite the challenges and hunger in the country, “Tinubu led administration seems to be interested in taking life out of every Nigerian. His neo-liberal and anti-people policy of fuel pump price increase and increase in electricity tariff remain the foundation of our sufferings”. 

He said “Amidst the pains cause by these evil policy, the Tinubu government  is buying private jet and renovating VP’s House with billions”.

The group however, demanded that if the nation should get better, the government should “Return fuel to N200 Per litre at most, and prosecute all those fingered in the Subsidy Scam that has been use to drain the nation’s treasury all these years, and has kept our state owned refineries in comatose.

“Fix all existing refinery in Nigeria immediately, and prosecute those who has played any ignoble role in keeping them dysfunctional. Fix the Rivers State section of the East-West road now, and ease the hardship and stress on the people of that region.

“Declare a state of emergency in our Education Sector, Reform the sector and adequately Investment in it by giving research grants to our students. Give the needed attention and investment to the healthcare sector, and ensure that healthcare delivery is affordable for all Nigerians, no matter how remotely located such a person might be within the country”, others.

Addressing the protesters at the Government House gate, Governor Fubara thanked the youths for being peaceful with their protest so far, and urged them to ensure that they are not instigated by anybody to resort to violence.

He said, “So, like I said before, I want to thank you for being peaceful. I already know your problems, we will communicate them to the Federal Government. But you see, this particular protest that you are doing now, our only worry is that we know a lot of people are planning to take advantage of this protest to destroy our State. But, we will not allow it.

“Like I said, it is not easy, but we know quite alright that very soon, everything will be well. Starting from our own State, everything will be well. What we just need is for you to support the government and its policies. Implementing policies, at the beginning, it must be harsh, but at the end, everything will be fine”.

Governor Fubara said his administration will stick to the tenets of good governance, take decisive actions to address the growing economic hardship in the State, and ensure that life is easy for the people. 

“We are going to make sure that we make life easy for you. Our youths, I agree with you that there is hunger, but because we preach good governance, we are committed to make hunger disappear very soon.”

The governor insisted that his administration will support the youths, and genuinely work for their well-being, but warned that it will not tolerate anybody that will use the protest to cause anarchy.

Governor Fubara appealed to all residents in the State to be patient with President Tinubu to allow his policies to materialise and yield fruits for the good of all, and assured that his administration will not relent in continuing to attend to their basic needs while creating an atmosphere for economic prosperity for all.

THISDAY visit across the state capital, noticed that popular markets, shopping malls, banks, some filling stations also companies in the Trans-Amadi Industrial area were closed for business.

It was observed that markets, including Mile 3, mile 1, Rumuokoro, Creek Road and others were shutdown while the areas calm. Most of the shops on the major roads in the Port Harcourt City were on lock and key.

Our correspondent also sighted that security was beefed up, with operatives of Police and military patrolling the popular areas of the state capital. 

As at 9:30am, youths resident along NTA Road, Ozuoba blocked the road denying commercial and private drivers access to the road, while a police patrol van was moving ensuring security around the area.

Blessing Ibunge

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