[Photos] Rivers State Uproar: Protesters Stoned Rotimi Amaechi’s Convoy, As Northern Governors Visit

There was commotion again in Rivers State as thousands of youths believed to be loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday, reportedly threw stones and other objects at the convoy of the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

Vehicles in the convoy were conveying four northern governors – Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) – who were on a solidarity visit to Amaechi.

A bus in which some commissioners in the state were seated in was said to have had its windscreen smashed by the protesters.

But the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, said,  “There was no time the governors’ convoy was attacked.

 “Nothing like that (attack) happened,” she said, adding that adequate security was provided at the airport to forestall any unpleasant development.

Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, who confirmed that a Government House bus was damaged by some youths, described the incident as a ploy by anti-democratic forces to cause confusion in the state.

Semenitari said the development had the capacity of derailing the nation’s democracy.

The youths, who are mostly members of the Grassroots Development Initiative, had expressed dissatisfaction over the visit of the governors, maintaining that they had no business being in the state.

Though some pro-Amaechi youths, who are members of Ikwerre Youth Movement, were also on the ground to forestall any untoward development at the airport, their presence did not stop the anti-Amaechi protesters.