On Monday, February 13, 2012 residents of Railway Line in the Old Port Harcourt staged a peaceful protest over the plan by the Rivers State government to demolish their homes to pave way for a tank farm.
It was said that Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi? had personally visited the area the previous week and handed down a seven-day quit notice to the residents, most of whom claimed to have relocated to the area, in agreement with the management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), after the demolition of some water-fronts in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The state government had in 2009 demolished Njemanze water-front and some sections of Bundu water-front, in line with its unpopular urban renewal programme where it planned to demolish no fewer than 44 water-fronts scattered across the state capital.
The water-fronts demolition plan got a boost in May 2010 when a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt ruled in favour of the state government in a suit brought against the state government by Okrika-Ijaw communities in the state challenging the planned demolition exercise. The Ijaws are major inhabitants of most of the water-fronts in the city.
Though, the court judgment directed the state government to go-ahead with the demolition of the water-fronts, it seems the government has decided to enforce the judgement on areas that were ab-initio not affected by the judgement.
To residents of Railway Line, who protested in front of a Church building and some residential buildings that were already demolished, the state government, especially, the governor, who gave them only seven days quit notice, was being unfair to them.
The placard-carrying protesters were made up of men, women, youths and even, school children, who could not go to school due to the eviction order handed their parents and guardians by the state government.
Most of the placards read; ‘Stop forced eviction’, Housing is a human right, Petroleum tank farms are not refineries’, Don’t demolish our houses for tank farms’ and so on.
According to Mr. Richard Obiakor, a civil servant and resident of the area, the state government did not give them notice to park out of the place, adding that the place was given to them by the authorities of the NRC..
Obiakor said; “We were not notified to park out of this place. We did not just fly to enter this place, we were authorised by the Railway management. Unfortunately, the governor came and gave us a seven-day notice“.
He stated that most of the residents were people who were displaced after the demolition of Njemanze water-fronts and others by the state government and wondered where they will go next if the state government goes ahead with the demolition threat.
“Many of us parked out from Njemanze and other demolished water-fronts in Port Harcourt into this place to have our shelter. Now, they came again to demolish here. “We are not trying to disobey government but what we are saying is if this place would be demolished, then give us a place”, the resident lamented.
Addressing the protesters, a representative of the Amnesty International Lucy Freeman said government has a responsibility to create development for the people, adding that the people must be included in the planned development.
Freeman wondered why the state government gave only seven days notice to the residents to vacate the area, saying that people need to be given adequate eviction notice to enable them have time to look for alternative accommodation.
For Comrade Celestine Akpobari, a human rights activist and executive director, Social Action, a civil society organisation based in Port Harcourt, the plan by the state government to demolish the Railway Line was a shameful one.
Akpobari said; “The demolition of the Railway quarters is a shame. You should not move people for petroleum tank farms; they should go and build refineries and not tank farms.
We have just been informed that Amaechi went to Rukpokwu, an ancient home of the Rukpokwus and he wants them to move. Move to where??
“The state government does not have focus at all, they don’t have vision. If they have a vision, then, they have to develop other cities. We used to have what was called PABOD, the five development centres of Port Harcourt, Bori, Ahoada, Omoku and Degema. But, he left all those places. Imagine having three universities in one senatorial district.”
Before his visit and subsequent quit-notice to residents of? the Railway Line, the governor, who is currently the chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) had visited Rukpokwu, an ancient town in Ikwerre local government area of the state where he ordered the residents to vacate as their buildings would soon be demolished.
Officials of the state Ministry of Urban and Physical Development have also visited Diobu, the most populous section of Port Harcourt where they marked several residential buildings for demolition to pave way for a major road project that will connect Port Harcourt to the International Airport at Omagwa.
The government had claimed that the affected four Rukpokwu communities fell into the new Greater Port Harcourt City that covers no fewer than six local government areas in the state including; Port Harcourt City, Obio/Akpor, Oyigbo, Eleme, Okrika and Ikwerre.