By Deborah Nnamdi
Hundreds of women in Rivers State have taken to the streets to protest President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a State of Emergency in the state.
The demonstrators, visibly angered, marched from Isaac Boro Park in Mile 1 to Garrison Junction along the busy Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, disrupting traffic along the route.
Operating under the banner of the Rivers Women Unite Prayer Group, the women stated that their protest aimed to resist the emergency rule and demand the restoration of democratic governance in Rivers State.
Led by Dr. Nancy Chidi Nwankwo, Tamunobelema D. West, and Cynthia Amadi, the women defied police barricades and continued their peaceful procession.
In a statement signed by Dr. Nwankwo, the group urged President Tinubu to immediately end the State of Emergency and reinstate the democratically elected governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara.
Nwankwo said: “Women of Rivers gathered for justice and democracy and express total rejection of the state of emergency declared over our beloved state. This imposition is not driven by any genuine threat to national security but a politically motivated maneuver aimed at subjugating our people and undermining our democracy.
“The overreach of the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) is a glaring indicator of the political conquest. His actions, which go far beyond the limited powers of a placeholder, betray the impartiality expected of his office and reveal the real intention behind this emergency rule, a calculated power grab under the guise of national interest.
“We find it utterly confounding that the federal authorities in Abuja, relying on conjecture and manufactured narratives, would choose to descend with the full weight of force on Rivers State, deploying a sledgehammer to kill a fly, while ignoring the dire security emergencies ravaging states such as Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, and Benue.
“If the National Assembly’s intention was truly to prevent the breakdown of law and order in Rivers, a state that has remained relatively peaceful and has recorded no fatal incident, why has it failed to take even more decisive action in states where chaos and bloodshed are daily occurrences?
“Rivers people, especially women, are outraged by what is fast becoming a dual system of laws in Nigeria, one for other states, and another, unjust and repressive, for Rivers. We reject this blatant political invasion and the imposition of emergency rule in its entirety.”
