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By Myke Agunwa
A group of women in Rivers State walked out of a women empowerment event at the EUI Centre in Port Harcourt on Friday.
This is just as they insisted that they would be addressed by the wife of suspended governor Mrs. Valeria Fubara or even wife of the President, Oluremi Tinubu instead of the wife of the Sole Administrator, Mrs. Theresa Ete-Ibas.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich state and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the State House of Assembly on March 18 for an initial period of six months.
The protest was in reaction to the continued suspension of Governor Fubara by President Bola Tinubu.
The women, who were invited to the event made their position unequivocally clear that they would not be addressed by anyone other than the wife of the suspended governor, Mrs. Valeria Fubara.
Chanting slogans such as “We want SIM!” and “Strangers can’t speak for us!”, the women accused Mrs. Ete-Ibas of being an outsider with no electoral mandate.
“Who is that impostor? Ibas’s wife is addressing Rivers’ women? Who is she? Come on, pack your load, Madam, we don’t want you,” one of the protesting women declared.
Another protester voiced her frustration, saying, “We need Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu to come and address us. She is the one we have been waiting for. We don’t need a stranger. We want Sim right now. Sim should come today, not tomorrow.”
The crowd eventually dispersed from the venue, effectively cutting the program short.
The incident is the latest in a string of grassroots-led protests demanding the reinstatement of Governor Fubara, who enjoys significant public support in the state, especially among women and youth groups.
Since his suspension, different women group have been protesting regularly across different Local Government Areas, calling on the federal government to respect the will of the Rivers people and bring back the suspended governor.
There has been no official response from the Rivers State interim administration or the Office of the First Lady regarding Thursday’s walkout.
However, the episode underscores the deepening political tensions in the oil-rich state and growing resistance to the interim arrangement installed by the federal government.