First Lady’s visit: Port Harcourt residents groan under security siege



Residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, are groaning under a security seige that resulted in heavy gridlock and unusual presence of scores heavilyarmed police. The situation followed the visit of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, as her aides and associates stormed the city.

On Saturday, residents woke up to the presence of roadblocks and diversions, especially in the GRA where even residents were now scrutinised before being allowed to enter the area.

To underscore the high level security operation surrounding the First Lady’s visit, Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC, have been stationed at both ends of Bauchi Street where her palatial mansion is located along with machine gun positions complete with sandbag walls and scores of mobile policemen on guard.

The president’s wife is expected to stay in the state for 11 days. National Mirror learnt that even the River State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has been caught up in the security lockdown and he was unable to attend a wedding on Saturday.

It was learnt that by the time the governor was ready to go out, the road leading to the Government House had been blocked, while the rear entrance which is close to the First Lady’s mansion was also shut to traffic.

One of the governor’s aides, who was contacted by telephone yesterday said: “The road was not opened until noon and by the time His Excellency arrived at the venue, the wedding was over.”

The First Lady had attended the wedding ceremony of one of her aides, who is also a member of the House of Assembly, Evans ‘Bibi’ Bapakaye, at the Civic Centre in Port Harcourt and traffic was hectic as there were marked diversions around the Isaac Boro Park, Marine Base, Station Road, Hospital Road, Bereka Street and Moscow Road within the old city.

All these roads are the major highways connecting the State Secretariat and the Downtown of the city to the other areas of the metropolitan city and they serve as the hub for vehicular and human movements in the city.

Disruption of traffic flow in the areas always leads to a punishing gridlock, which was exactly what happened on Saturday. Cars were not allowed near these areas and residents walked for hours to reach various destinations. Journalists, who covered the assignments have to make use of hotels and cybercafés around the area to file their stories as traffic was still hectic until around 9p.m.

Even though the First Lady has not been involved in any serious official business since Saturday, there is still heavy security presence in the city, with a lot of diversions still causing heavy traffic jams around the GRA areas where she resides.


To press home the importance of her visit to the state, Divisional Police Officers were directed to personally take charge of traffic in their divisions, while all vacations among police officers in the state have been cancelled or put on hold until the departure of the President’s wife.

A DPO, who spoke with National Mirror on condition of anonymity, said most of the security personnel in the state are engaged in ensuring the safety of the First Lady as it is the priority assignment in the state now.

“We can’t go on leave or vacation now and we have all been ordered to personally supervise traffic and security operations in our various formations. We understand she will be around for 11 days, that means another seven more days,” he said.

Investigations by National Mirror, revealed that the First Lady will be commissioning the South- South Zonal Office of her Pet Project, ‘Women for Change and Development Initiative’, while she is also billed to be involved in the burial of her grandfather, slated for the coming weekend. Some Port Harcourt residents expressed disgust at the huge inconveniences the visit was causing especially since her stay will be prolonged.

“How long are we going to cope with all these problems now? We thought she was only going to be here for the weekend only for us to get to the Azikwe end of the road and still meet heavily-armed policemen, on getting to Isaac Boro park, we were turned back by stern-looking policemen again,” Egi Dombraye, a businessman in the state lamented

otokx: wickedness of our leaders.

dirifred: I live in PHC, work in GRA. how come i did not see this? there are only two major roads in PHC,Aba road and Ikwere road, this two road are always having trafic congestion everyday. the visit of the first lady may have increased the congestion but its not far from our normal day to day congestion.

First Lady's Rivers Visit Shuts out GRA Residents




Residents of the Old Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have cried out over the inconveniences they have been suffering since the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, arrived the state last Friday.

Since Mrs. Jonathan arrived in the city, there has been massive security around her private residence at Bauchi Street, Old GRA.

All the adjoining streets had been condoned off, while an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) is stationed at the entrance of Bauchi Street.

Security personnel have also set up surface bunkers in the adjoining streets, while pedestrian and vehicular traffic are restricted into the adjoining streets.

Yesterday, for instance, vehicles going into the GRA from Amadi Flat area were diverted into Aba Road or were forced to make use of the few streets allowed.
This caused a massive traffic gridlock, as the few open streets in the neighbourhood were under reconstruction.

However, despite the security presence, Port Harcourt Primary School, located at the entrance to Bauchi Street, was open Monday, as teachers and pupils were allowed into the school for normal activities.

But a female teacher, who would not want to be named, told THISDAY that while the security operatives were very polite, their presence was a distraction to the pupil.
“The policemen and other security personnel here have been very polite. They did not harass us, but their presence was a huge distraction to the pupils,” she said.

She said it was also difficult for teachers, who had cars to drive into the school.
“Our cars were thoroughly searched. We were also screened and frisked before we were allowed into the school,” she said.
A resident of the area, who simply gave his name as Chief Kalio, said movement of members of his family had been impaired since last week by the security.

“My son, this is unusual. I cannot move freely even when they know I live here. The situation is frustrating,” he said.

On his part, Johnson Peterside, a driver, also lamented that the heavy security presence had put him under tremendous stress.

He said the owner of the taxi he drives lives around the area and that the security build-up in the area had made it difficult for him to collect and return the vehicle from the residence of the owner.

Meanwhile, the residence of the First Lady had become a Mecca of sorts for top politicians of the state, especially those opposed to the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi.

There were speculations that the visit of the first lady would further galvanise efforts to woo members of the State House of Assembly to back the bid to impeach the governor.

eGuerrilla:

Perhaps it simple the case that others see things you don't see
Here is another account from a different newspaper.



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Okija_juju: I was in port harcourt over the weekend and witnessed the inconvieniennce this woman was causing the state.

They block the roads 30 minutes before she even passes..

her convoy on Saturday was 67 cars long... I counted.

Forces avenue was blocked off and traffic diverted ..

It was very irritating..

Okija_juju: I was in port harcourt over the weekend and witnessed the inconvieniennce this woman was causing the state.

They block the roads 30 minutes before she even passes..

her convoy on Saturday was 67 cars long... I counted.

Forces avenue was blocked off and traffic diverted ..

It was very irritating..

Cele-pope:

All Naija Newspapers and blogs are all copy and paste

Okija_juju: I was in port harcourt over the weekend and witnessed the inconvieniennce this woman was causing the state.

They block the roads 30 minutes before she even passes..

her convoy on Saturday was 67 cars long... I counted.

Forces avenue was blocked off and traffic diverted ..

It was very irritating..