By Abiola Olawale
The political tension in Rivers State reached a boiling point on Saturday, March 15, 2025, as hundreds of Ijaw women took to the streets in a dramatic protest, blocking major roads to prevent the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, from attending a planned event in the Kalabari Kingdom.
The women, dressed in black attire with white scarves tied around their heads, vowed to stop what they described as an “unwelcome visit” by the immediate past governor of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the event in question is a grand reception organized by some Ijaw stakeholders in Abalama, Asari-Toru Local Government Area.
According to the organisers, the event was intended to honour Wike for his contributions to the region.
However, the planned celebration quickly turned into a flashpoint for unrest as the protesting women accused Wike of disrespecting the Ijaw ethnic nationality with recent comments and actions amid the ongoing political crisis in the state.
The New Diplomat reports that the women began assembling in the early hours of Saturday morning, chanting traditional Ijaw songs and carrying placards with messages such as “Wike, Stay Away!” and “Respect Our People!”
They barricaded key roads leading to Abalama, effectively halting vehicular movement and causing a significant standoff.
This comes after Wike made some comments about Ijaw during a media parley in Abuja on Tuesday. The comments have been generating massive reactions, with many perceiving the Minister’s statement as derogatory or dismissive of the Ijaw’s contributions to Rivers State’s political and economic landscape.
Wike had stated: “When the law speaks, all this asawana will die. And the law has spoken, let me tell you something, and people should have that right. Ijaw does not constitute the majority of the Niger Delta. People must speak out the truth; heaven will not fall, and we only die once, not twice. Ijaw does not constitute the majority of the Niger Delta; what nonsense every day you wake up; Ijaw will do this.
“In Akwa Ibom, Ijaw cannot be Governor, in Delta, Ijaw is the minority of the minorities, with all due respect to our late elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, he has never produced Ijaw man to be Governor in Delta, he has never. The only place an Ijaw man can solely be Governor is in Bayelsa State. Not in Edo, not in Rivers where they are a minority of the minority. It is out of our benevolence, live and let live, we picked an Ijaw man to be Governor.”
