Amidst rising tension over the grand civic reception being planned by a group for the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, at Abalama in Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, the police on Saturday, fired tear gas to disperse protesting Kalabari women who had blocked the Emohua-Kalabari Road.
The women who dressed on black were apparently acting in sync with the position of the Kalabari Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers which had written to the security agencies in the state, expressing their disapproval of the reception.
The traditional rulers had expressed fears that the reception would.clash with a meeting planned at.the same venue, and time by the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eastern Zone, and directed both parties to take their events to other places to avoid bloodshed on their land.
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The protesting Ijaw women who blocked the road, and chanting songs, had vandalized all the billboards bearing the posters of Wike, erected along the road leading to Abalama through the Emohua -Kalabari Road.
The police team going to the venue ahead of the arrival of the minister, encountered the protesting women and fired teargas cannisters, forcing the women to flee in different directions.
One of the women who spoke to our correspondent, said they came out to demonstrate their anger over the disparaging remarks the minister has been making against the Ijaws in the Niger Delta.
“Enough is enough for the minister. If he has issues with the governor, why not deal with the governor and leave the Ijaws alone.
“How can Wike of yesterday think that he can lord it over everybody, including those older than his father. We are not happy,” she said.
