Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State was stunned Saturday as scores of angry protesters rejected his visit to the Opu-Nembe community in Nembe Local Government Area of the state.
Nembe had been engulfed in crisis, moving the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egebtokun, to deploy Police operatives to the community to restore normalcy.
Converging at the Bridge leading to the community, protesters carried placards with inscriptions like: “Development is What we need, we don’t need curfew”, “IGP, please we are comfortable with SWAT Team, Retain them here”, “Douye Diri, Please Leave Us Alone to enjoy our peace”, and “Douye Diri Leave Opu-Nembe Alone”.
When the governor got to the town hall, things soured as he met another set of aggrieved women with placards calling on him to hands off from the Opu-Nembe crisis.
The governor and the Service Commanders including the Commissioner of Police, Alausa Tolani, were shocked as the women chanted solidarity songs and insisted that Governor Diri won’t be allowed to address them.
A former women association president of the community, Seifekuma Clinton Etubo, said the people were angry with Diri for abandoning the community and his partiality during the crisis.
According to her, Governor Diri’s intervention was no longer needed as the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had come to the aid of the people by deploying a team of Police operatives that have rescued the people from the reign of terror.
“We the women are angry and you can hear the anger of the women. Since Senator Douye Diri became governor, he has never for once set foot in this community. As the Chief Security Officer, he has taken a side, which is not right. As a governor and father, he kept quiet when some youths were intimidating people and this community had no peace. Now that we cried to the Federal Government and it sent the IGP to come and rescue us, it is now that he came with his convoy. We ask ‘to come and do what exactly?’ We plead with the IGP to sustain the peace by ensuring that the Police team remains in the community to ensure we do not go back to the dark period,” she stated.
Also speaking, Mr. Orusakwe Aseimiegha said the reaction of the people was a clear signal that Governor Diri has been rejected by the people.
“What just happened today is a clear signal that the people of Opu-Nembe have shown that they cannot be intimidated. They have told the governor that he is part of the crisis and he is not wanted in the community. He has been rejected,” Aseimiegha stated.
