Mayhem at PH waterfronts: Gov Odili must
speak up
Judging by the frequency of violent cult
activities and bloodletting in Rivers State since the return of democratic
governance, media organisations should find reporting of isolated incidents
there less newsy than it would be in more peaceful parts of the country. But something in the recurring
violence always commands front page reporting in national dailies. It is either
at Okrika or Amadi-Ama or Abuloma or Buguma or Abua-Odual or Emohua or Ataba or
the State capital, Port Harcourt, itself. What really is happening, Governor
Peter Odili?
Last Monday, barely a fortnight after over 20 persons
were slaughtered at Ataba, Andoni, by yet-to-be identified criminals, the
forces of darkness descended on the Njemanze waterfront, in Diobu, Port
Harcourt, blowing up buildings and makeshift shacks. At the end of the
operation, which lasted for hours on Sunday (August 22) night, some 15
residents lay dead, with over 50 residential structures razed to the ground
through dynamites used by the criminals. Those who survived the infernal attack
have reportedly moved out of not just Njemanze, but Elechi Beach, Abonema Wharf
and adjoining areas. People are running for their lives because neither
Odili’s administration nor the State Police Command has demonstrated the
capacity to protect lives and property, not just at the waterfronts, but in the
entire State.
True, Odili is not alone. Even his master in Abuja,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has lost control of the affairs of the country. The
entire country is drifting, with criminals - some of them in the Federal
cabinet and the National Assembly, just as Odili’s cabinet and the State
House of Assembly cannot be said to be free of complicity in criminal
activities - having a field day. The high and mighty in Nigeria, today,
can kill or maim the lowly and walk away without any difficulty. Obasanjo and
criminally-minded Governors have empowered them all to do as they wish. Even
equally highly placed citizens who are not in their good books have been bumped
off. We have had the cases of the former Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice, and then the two National Vice Chairman, South South of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP). So, the Governor is not alone, but he must explain
certain coincidences.
The hoodlums who invaded Njemanze foreshore demanded
that all residents and property owners at that place and at the adjoining areas
named above should quit immediately. They even gave an ultimatum, warning of
dire consequences for anyone who fails or refuses to relocate. Which is why the
entire population in those places, estimated at hundreds of thousands, have
deserted their homes. Now, the State Government is also known to have declared
its intention, months ago, to take over the said area for development under its
so-called urban renewal plan. Could those hoodlums be agents of the State
Government? Governor Odili must speak up.
Lest the Rivers State Governor forgets. It is on
record that traders at the Mile One Market, Diobu, had accused the State
Government of sabotage, when the market was razed down through a mysterious
fire in November last year. Goods estimated at over N5 billion were destroyed
in that fire. On television and in the newspapers, representatives of the
traders claimed that for over a year, the State Government had been insisting
that they must move to a new site to enable it put up a modern hospital at the
present market location. What struck me as most odd was why the Government
wanted to distort the master plan of the city, since that very location had
been designated as a market. Way back in the early sixties, we used to know
that market at that location. El-Rufai is restoring a master plan in Abuja, but
Odili wants to walk in the opposite direction. Let him check his pursuits.
Governor Odili must understand that his popularity
rating today in Rivers State and beyond is at its lowest. Very few in Port
Harcourt trust him. A lot of people in and out of that State see him as cunning
and deadly. The deaths of Marshall Harry, Aminasoari Dikibo Harry and the
unknown citizens mowed down by militias and cultists linked to him, his
advisers or mentors in Abuja or the Transport Minister, will continue to stand
between him and the public’s perception of who he is. Too much blood has
been shed in Rivers State under his tenure. Even if he is not involved directly
or remotely, the state of blood betokens evil for his own reign.
Timi Odungo
Abuja
