Scores of aggrieved women of Alode Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday, lamented that Governor Siminalayi Fubara has forced hunger on residents of the community.
The protesting women who converged at the temporary secretariat of Eleme Local Government Council, said that the state government acquired their land located across the East -West Road for the New Port City project without compensating them.
The women, mostly widows and the elderly, took to the street to register their grievances and seek help, wailing and chanting sorrowful songs.
They lamented that nothing was left in their cassava farmlands, and called on Gov. Fubara, to come to their aid.
They lamented that most of them were bread winners following the demise of their husbands and unavailability of jobs for their sons.
During the protest, they displayed placards with inscriptions such as “We have no more farm land,” ‘pay us compensation for our crops,” “Alode women say no to injustice,” “Alode women in tears,” and “Gov. Fubara has forced hunger on us.”
In an interview, a community women leader, Dr. Patience Osaroejiji said that the women were frustrated as they have no other place to farm.
“From the other end, Okrika people are pursuing us, from this end government is now pursuing us again; there is hunger in the town.
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“We know that the land law says that government owns all the land. Okay, they came and said they want to use that place for new port city, we didn’t object.
“The problem is that they did not do any consultation and then, pay compensation because these women have planted all their cassava for how many years on that place. They just came with tractors and started excavating and demolishing the whole place.
“It’s only women that put food on the table these days because there is no job for our sons, for our husbands, and most of these women are widows and so that is the only livelihood they have.
“We are not happy that this kind of thing has happened in our land. It’s a lot of farmlands that are on that place. You can imagine, some of them have 17 plots of farmland, some have 19, some have eight where they have planted cassava, it is sad,” she observed.
Osaroejiji urged the state government to listen to the cries of the women and address their grievances.
