Countering the pro-Siminalayi Fubara rally last week by some women in Rivers State under the aegis of ‘Rivers Women for Sim’ deploring the state of emergency in the state and the suspension of the governor, another women group on Monday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, staged a peaceful protest in support of the emergency rule.
Unlike the sympathisers of the suspended Governor Fubara who were clad in black depicting the sombre mood, the supporters of the emergency rule imposed on the state by President Bola Tinubu on March 18, were all dressed in white and displayed placards with such inscriptions as “State of Emergency Is Constituti onal; No Tribal Wars In Rivers State; No More Fubar” among others.
Thronging the Garrison Bus Stop in the city centre around 8 am to begin the rally, the women sang solidarity songs in support of the Sole Administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as they marched along Aba Road towards the Government House.
President Tinubu said the declaration of a state of emergency in the state and appointment of Ibas for an initial period of six months was to restore law and order amid protracted feud between Fubara and his estranged godfather and immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory.