Rivers: Residents Stranded As Wike Evicts Water Front Community

Residents Stranded As Wike Evicts Waterfront Community

Oluwatoyin Mathnuel INSIGHT MAG ONLINE NEWS Publisher

The Rivers State government on Saturday demolished homes at Elechi Phase I, Diobu, Port Harcourt.

The state government had earlier threatened to evacuate residents in some coastal communities in the state for allegedly harbouring criminals. This move had been objected to civil society organisations.

Regardless, the government still carried out the demolition.

Amnesty International, and its civil society partners working in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have condemned the ongoing forced eviction of waterfront communities in the Diobu axis of the city.

Amnesty made the condemnation in a joint statement with Justice and Empowerment Initiative, Nigerian Slum/Informal Settlement Federation, Social Action Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform, and Center for Environment, Human Rights, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth and Development.

According to the groups, over 2000 people were already displaced from their homes while tens of thousands in neighbouring communities are under imminent threat.

The statement reads, “The forced eviction began in Elechi Phase I waterfront community in the morning hours of January 29, 2022 without adequate notice nor any form of consultation by the Rivers State Government whose task force came for demolition together with security forces, including “Operation Sting” from the Rivers State Police Command. After the residents peacefully formed a human shield to prevent the excavator from entering the community, the demolition squad used the premises of a neighboring company and broke a company wall to enter into the waterfront and commence the forced eviction of hundreds of homes and businesses.

“By nightfall, hundreds of families were rendered homeless, guarding their lives and properties in the open with nowhere to go.