By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
There was pandemonium at the popular Agip Flyover, Rumueme area of Port Harcourt, on Friday afternoon, following the spray of tear gas around the area.
People reading newspapers at a newsstand under the flyover and bus passengers from the Mile 4 axis who alighted there noticed the harsh smell of the tear gas. Passersby were seen running towards the Mile 4 direction as they approached the Flyover while some ran towards Sani Abacha Road in a bid to escape from the discharge.
Residents were seen coughing, sneezing and covering their noses to avoid inhaling the substance as they scampered for safety.
However, what made the scenario strange was that nobody seemed to know where the gas was coming from.
Complicating the problem was the fact that there was no police officer around there. At the same time, no form of violence, quarrel, protest or riot was noticed within that vicinity to justify the spray of tear gas in the area, making some people wonder if there was a nearby tear gas container that got burst by accident.
As people coughed, sneezed and wiped off tears from their eyes, questions such as “What’s happening?”, “Are they fighting somewhere?”, “Is there EndSARS protest going on around?”, “What’s the problem?”, “Did anyone see policemen with tear gas?” etc., rented the air, without a definite answer coming from anybody.
However, TPCN gathered from a group of about 5 girls, who ran to the taxi park close to Sani Abacha Road, visibly choking from the gas, that the discharged substance was coming from a camp where they were training, at the Correctional Centre adjacent to the Agip Flyover.
According to them, their trainers sprayed the tear gas as part of their training to master how to endure it when they’re faced with similar real-life situations.
Asked if their trainers were aware that they were choking, one of the girls replied: “They know, but they said it’s for us to master it. Them, they’re still there because they have mastered it.”
The girls spent less than two minutes there before returning to continue their training.
Some people at the Sani Abacha Road taxi park affected by the tear gas expressed dismay after listening to the explanation.
They felt it was unhealthy for the officers conducting the training to spray the tear gas in an area close to a junction like Agip Flyover.
An angry passenger, still recovering from the choke, said: “Didn’t they know that it will spread to this area and that people will inhale it? Since they know they will spray tear gas as part of the training, they should have taken them to a distant place before spraying it? What kind of thing is this?”
