Rivers: Youths, others shun Fubara, stakeholders’ plea, embark on protest

Angry youths in Rivers State, including traders and women among others, have shunned the pleas by the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and the stakeholders from the Niger Delta region and embarked on the national hunger protest in the state.

The protesters, who gathered at about 8 am, took off from the popular pleasure park in Port Harcourt and are currently marching towards the Federal Secretariat along Aba Road down to Government House, Port Harcourt.

Checks show that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other human rights groups, who had vowed that nothing would deter them from staging the protest, however, failed to show up. Only youths, residents, and traders were sighted.

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The chairman of CSOs in the state, Enefa Georgewill, in a text message earlier today announced to newsmen in Port Harcourt that he will brief the press later on the updates of the bad governance protest by noon.

However, the angry protesters, who had no leader as no one was identified leading the demonstration, marched orderly, in unity, and with decorum.

Some of the youths in an interview told The Guardian they came out on their own to protest against bad governance due to serious hunger in the land.

One of them who simply gave his name as Emmanuel said, “There is serious hunger in the land. I came out on my own to protest; nobody asked me to come out or gave me kobo. We are dying of hunger. Oftentimes, I don’t eat for days, and people who are eating well say we should not protest. They are on their own.”

Another protester, Judith, said, “Prices of everything in the country have increased by 200 percent due to anti-people policies, especially the subsidy removal policy, and they are telling us to be patient. How long can we wait?”

Recall that Governor Fubara had pleaded with the youths, CSOs, and others to shelve the nationwide protest, saying he has credible information that some mercenaries and thugs have been hired from outside, in the guise of protest, to destroy valuable infrastructure assets in the state.

Also, some stakeholders from the region, such as the National Chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Sen. Emmanuel Essien, the President of Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Jonathan Lokpobiri, renowned Niger Delta activists, Ann Kio Briggs, Asari Dokubo, among others, had urged the youths to shelve the protest, declaring that the region would boycott the protest because the 10-point protest demand did not capture the region’s needs.

But the youths and other residents condemned the decisions, saying the stakeholders have been bribed, querying if they are not feeling the pains, agonies.