Pandemonium struck at the CFC flyover in Port Harcourt on Monday, April 7, 2025, when a peaceful protest organised and sponsored by the Civil Society Organisations, and Niger Delta Congress, against bad governance became chaotic.
The violence erupted when officers of the Rivers State Police command started firing tear gas canisters in a bid to disperse the protesters who were demanding the immediate reinstatement of all democratically elected political officeholders.
The protest, which started as a peaceful walk from Isaac Boro Park, met resistance from operatives of the state police command at CFC.
The aggrieved protesters accused security operatives of shooting sporadically, which they said led to a gunshot wound on the leg of one of them, who was rushed to the hospital for urgent treatment.
Speaking in a interview with newsmen, Mr Chetam Nwala, who is one of the organisers explained that, “first of all we converged at Isaac Boro Park for the protest, you know it’s a nation wide protest, it’s not just in Rivers State and amongst other things there were other demands we had made.
“The police initially tried stopping us. Before now, we had an agreement with the police that we were going to converge and stay at the Isaac Boro Park with approval from the commissioner of police.
“Now, having given us that approval, we went to Isaac Boro Park, but the police came back and said no we cannot stay at Isaac Boro Park that we should leave, but we told them we have a written approval from the police and that we had to continue with the protest. At a point, they allowed us and the officer in charge now allowed us to go ahead to protest that they are going to provide us with police security. We started processing from the Isaac Boro Park”
He narrated that, “when we moved from Isaac Boro Park and got to CFC, they came in a war format, extra vehicles and vans and all that and blocked us and the same officer came and said that we have made a statement we should leave that we have granted press, we have done enough procession that we should go, we said no that we have not even started what we had envisaged that we had other plans to proceed and we also have a route to follow.
“He said no, that we must leave now. The next thing they started doing, they started shooting tear gas canisters on us, of course it was a joint team, both the army, the police, the civil defense, they were all there.
“The next thing, they started shooting sporadically on the air; police started shooting tear gas canisters on us, even arrested some of the reporters who came to cover the event. Shot at the leg of one of the protesters, shot at his leg, he is currently hospitalized as we speak, and it’s actually sad and unfortunate.”
Nwala noted that, “the truth of the matter is that we must all realize that we are all Nigerians, no body is more Nigerian than the other. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not more Nigerian than any of us, he is only privileged to be our president and he cannot lead us in dictatorship, we will not stand and watch, we have a right to speak as a people, you cannot hold down our voice, protest is an international right of citizens of this world so you cannot stop it.
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“We condemn what has happened today in Rivers State, and it’s a shame on Nigerian government that Nigerian government will be shooting at its citizens for protesting and demanding for good governance.
“Right now they want to silence the voice of reasonability, they want to silence the voice of citizens but we will say no to it, we will continue to resist it even if it takes our life, we will continue to resist it.”
Also speaking, the immediate past spokesperson for the Coalition of Rivers State civil society organisations, Mr. Solomon Lenu, condemned the actions of the police officers against the protesters.
Lenu said, “If Nigerians are still thinking that we have a country, we have a democracy, I am here to announce to you that you are seriously dreaming.
“This democracy that our people fought for, died for has automatically ended and we are under a full blown dictatorship. It’s even a shame that a person who claimed to be a pro-democratic president, who had always prided himself on fighting for this democracy in the person of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be the president and will act on the kind of things that are happening here today in Rivers State.
“As we speak to you today, what happened here in Rivers State, is an instruction given to the sole administrator of Rivers State, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been abandoned and this country now is being ruled by the whips and caprices of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, God’swill Akpabio and his cohort, Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister.
“But we are here to tell Rivers people that freedom is not free anywhere in the world. Today we are here, a democratic government that was elected by the people has been suspended and every other institutions of government in Rivers State and people are sitting down doing nothing, thinking everything will be fine.”
He urged Nigerians to fight for democracy and their rights. On the way forward, he assured that, “they will reconvene and continue to push this demand that all the right things be done.
“It is not over, we are coming back again.”
