I cannot remember my first contact with this picturesque city called Port Harcourt. But I am sure that long before our romance began, I had met this city of oil in books, in articles, on television, on radio and some other ways. It was for me a city of promise, a city flowing with milk and honey, a city where dreams came alive and a city where great minds found the room to flourish and flower.
Like Lagos, it was some form of convergence for races. Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri, Ibibio and others saw in Port Harcourt a home away from home.
Port Harcourt of yore was not a city where fear walked on all fours. It was a city where people loved their neigbours like themselves. It was a beautiful city. So beautiful they rechristened it Garden city because of the choreographed embrace between its well-laid road networks and flowers lining them.
In it, oil giants made money and were not afraid. Their gates were not manned by stern-looking soldiers or riot policemen. Neither were their key figures escorted everywhere by gun-toting security men.
The Nigerian civil war was the first blow on Port Harcourt. Igbo who saw the Rivers State capital as home put their all into it. They built houses, industries and so on there. Then came the war and their properties were confisticated all in the name of abandoned properties. Their attempts to reclaim their toils after the war were resisted. Though some got back their due with time, not a few lost their properties forever.
After the war, Port Harcourt seemed to get its groove back. But the return to democracy in 1999 marked another twist. Politicians — out to show strength — armed young and jobless youths with rifles and machine guns. Opponents were taken down with ease. Key political figures, such as Chief Marshal Harry, were killed and till now the culprits have not been found not to talk of being brought to justice.
At a point when there were no political opponents to harass, the boys started turning their guns against innocent citizens. Kidnappings began and big boys in the city started acquiring bullet-proof vehicles. Many took their kids far away to school. And that also marked the era of oil giants watching their backs by going out always with security escorts. Expatriates became preys and the fear of being kidnapped became the beginning of wisdom.
Although the violence did not totally disappear between 2007 and 2014, it was brought under great control. The 2015 general elections set back the city several thousands of miles. And things have not remained the same again.
Rivers was hell before, during and after the polls. For months, men without spine, men of brawn—and please permit me to add— who lack humanity and conscience put Rivers State, the Lagos of the Southsouth, on the spot. It was either they were shooting guns or they were throwing bombs. And when they did it, they hid their faces. They acted most times under the cover of the dark and daylight.
Aside guns and dynamites, they also used machetes and other dangerous weapons. Heads were broken. Necks were twisted. Arms had hot leads pumped into them. And there was a woman whose back was reshaped with bullets. It was simply a tale of blood.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) observed in a report that politicians outsourced the punishment of their opponents through fatal deaths to cultists.
Of all the killings, those of the Adubes caught the public’s attention more. Their killers showed no mercy. In one fell swoop, nine persons, including a father, his two sons and daughter were killed. The Adube family members are still in tears and are seeking justice.
Those killed are: former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local government, the late Hon. Christopher Adube, his two sons Lucky and John Adube , his daughter Joy, a family friend, Mr. Iyk Ogarabe and the family driver, Mr. Samuel Chukwunonye.
Because of the madness of the general elections, many are now homeless. Many are now fatherless; many are widows; and many are on wheel chairs, with pellets of bullets lodged in their bones. Dreams have died and aspirations doomed.
Paul and Ogechi Adube are two living examples of the evil that men did during the last general elections in Rivers. They would have died on April 3, last year when men without brains stormed their home in ONELGA and killed their father, Christopher Adube and three of their siblings. The bullets pumped into 15-year-old Paul’s leg have ensured he is wheel-chair bound. The hot lead released unto Ogechi’s legs have also seen rods inserted into her bones and because of this, she cannot fold her legs. You can imagine the pains of walking around with legs that feel like wood.
The report of the Rivers Commission of Inquiry headed by the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, said a monthly average of 19 killings occurred in the state between November 2014 and April 2015.
The Commission noted that of the 97 allegations of killings it received, 94 of them occurred between November 15, 2014, and April 11, last year.
The violence did not stop with the general elections. It has continued since then and this has ensured the rerun elections are yet to be concluded. Shortly before the rerun, 25 people were killed in Omoku. Some of them were lucky to have their heads still intact; some were not that lucky. The heartless men who killed them severed their heads and went away with them.
Okonta Samuel Dumebi, a youth corps member, was one of those whose blood was shed by politicians during the war called Rivers rerun election. Dumebi’s death is like using the blood of an outsider to appease the gods in Rivers. He was not a son of the soil neither was he a resident. Home was in Illah, Delta State.
The attempt to conclude the rerun saw the electoral commission’s office in Bori being bombed. It is a crazy world out there. Really crazy world.
And early this week, a Delta-born lawyer and human rights activist, Ken Atsuwete, was killed. Barbaric, nasty and heinous are some of the words that have been used to describe the assassination of Atsuwete, who was lawyer to Hon Ojukaye Flag Amachree, an All Progressives Congress (APC) leader held for murder charges by the Nyesom Wike administration.
Atsuwete is no longer around, but many a victim of kidnapping is still here to tell their tales. The fear of being kidnapped is the beginning of wisdom.
I must point out here that for Governor Wike, Rivers is safe for investments and all. Those who describe the state as Rivers of blood and violence have been challenged by the governor. He has the various meetings that have taken place in the garden city to back himself up.
Roll calls: Lawyers have met in Port Harcourt. Editors have taken their turn. Movie stars have seen the safe haven that the garden city is. Many others have toured His Excellency’s projects and have come up with resoundingly positive verdicts. So, who the hell is saying Port Harcourt is not safe? Can they know more than the Guild of Editors? Can they know more than the Bar? Can they know more than the A-list movie stars?
As far as His Excellency— who says he is the Chief Logistics Officer and not Chief Security Officer of the state— is concerned, many of the killings are between cultists who he has been fighting. The opposition is just playing to the gallery. I doubt if the families of Atsuwete, Adube and others who have fallen in the state share his view.
My final take: The Garden city has lost not a few of its glow. No thanks to violence, kidnappings and all other crimes which the Chief Logistics Officer will have us believe are exaggerated. Port Harcourt has no business playing second fiddle to any city, not even Lagos. It has the advantage of being home to many multinational oil giants, which unfortunately now look before they leap.
