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By Bisi Olaniyi


There is angst in the land of Njamanze Waterfront settlement; a more or less shanty area of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital known as the Garden City owing to its beauty and cleanliness. That was then. But out of the Garden City grew 41 compactly populated waterfronts; a striking expression for the shanty area of Rivers State.

In a bid to make life consequential for the people, the government of Rivers State decided to get rid of the noxious environment for a hygienic one by demolishing the waterfront. The people, seemingly preferring the unhealthy status quo ante, are ready for a showdown with the government; adducing several grounds, one of which is that government has perfected plans to give their land to Dangote and others.

But government said the waterfronts are abodes of criminals. This position was first taken by their deposed governor Celestine Omehia who told people of the state that the densely-populated 41 waterfronts in Port Harcourt, the state capital, would be demolished to check criminality, based on security reports.

The declaration by Omehia, an Ikwerre, generated tension in the state, as the decision was seen by the Ijaw (comprising Okrika and Kalabari, among others) as ethnic cleansing.

The house owners at the waterfronts heaved a sigh of relief when the Supreme Court sacked the controversial governor, who the Justices said was not the duly-elected candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the April 14, 2007 election. The Supreme Court said Rivers’ electorate voted for the PDP, whose governorship candidate was Rotimi Amaechi and was subsequently inaugurated on October 26, 2007.

Shortly after his inauguration, Amaechi announced that the waterfronts would no longer be demolished and that it was not to spite his cousin (Omehia).

A few months later, the governor reversed his pronouncement by declaring that security reports, which confirmed the waterfronts as dens of criminals, prompted him to opt for the demolition, in line with his administration’s urban renewal programme.

Amaechi admitted having earlier informed Rivers’ people that the waterfronts would not be demolished, but that he decided to take his time to study the situation on the ground, before making up his mind on the sensitive matter.

At a stakeholders’ meeting at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday, July 14, 2009, the governor sought the approval of eminent Rivers’ people in attendance to demolish the waterfronts, which was granted, but later described by the waterfronts’ residents as "stage-managed."

Amaechi also announced at the event that the Justice Kayode Esho-led Truth and Reconciliation Panel, of which an Okrika person was a member, also recommended the demolition of the waterfronts to check criminal activities.

He disclosed that there were a lot of arms and ammunition at the waterfronts and that when the areas would be demolished, the army, navy, air-force and riot police personnel would be involved to prevent resistance.

On Sunday, August 23, at an interactive session with newsmen at the Banquet Hall of Brick House (Government House), Port Harcourt, the governor announced that the demolition would commence the following week.

He said: "I am serious about demolition of the waterfronts in Rivers State. There are a lot of arms and ammunition there. Criminals use the places as their hideouts, as confirmed by security reports.

"Five persons, including an undergraduate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, were recently killed in one of the waterfronts in the state capital. They cannot be brought back to life.

"Once I focus on something, my attention will be on it and I will pursue it with my strength. Next week, we are starting. They said I should wait until after the amnesty (October 4), but we are starting.

"Arms and ammunition are stockpiled at the waterfronts. When crimes are committed there, they will not be reported to the police and other security agencies. There are observatory points there to monitor security agents. With the volume of arms and ammunition at the waterfronts, we are sitting on time bombs.

"When we want to demolish, Air force will deploy helicopters, the Navy will move to the areas with gunboats, while the Army will have its officers and men on the land, to ensure the demolition is effected and to prevent resistance.

"Riot policemen will also join the soldiers. Not policemen in black uniform (regular), who were earlier beaten up by the criminals. We need to secure people’s lives, not even property this time. The waterfronts have a separate government. There cannot be two governments in the state.

"The demolition is not an Ikwerre agenda. (Amaechi is Ikwerre). Okrika people said they sold the land in 1913 to the Crown. As the governor, I want to take back the land. Okrika people can buy the land after demolition. I will sell the land to everybody. Only Satan cannot buy. Tell Okrika people that I do not mean any harm."

The state government earlier stated that over N20b would be paid to the affected landlords as compensation, in spite of some of the houses not having approved building and survey plans, as well as certificates of occupancy (C of O).

Amaechi noted that the demolished areas would be redesigned and rebuilt for the people, including the former landlords to buy at affordable rates, while the other part would be guided development, where the buyers of the lands would build the structures they wanted.

With the governor’s disclosure on the move to commence the demolition, thousands of residents and landlords of the waterfronts immediately started relocating from the areas they had been living for many years, amid tears and anguish, to prevent being caught unawares.

The residents’ relocation to their friends, relations and well-wishers’ places, as well as their home towns, had continued so that the state government’s bulldozers would not destroy what they had laboured to acquire over the years.

In the frenzy to move the residents’ belongings, to their new abodes, those in transport business are making quick money as they have capitalised on the helplessness of the people to rip them off.

One of the affected residents at Njemanze, Tonye Fyneface, alleged that the Amaechi’s administration was unfair to them, by not giving enough notice and refusing to provide alternative accommodation, before the demolition.

Fyneface said: "I am confused. I do not know where to go. The governor should have treated us better than this."

As the threat to demolish the waterfronts grew, the people of Okrika filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt and consequently secured leave to sue the Rivers governor, Chief of Army, Naval and Air Staff, as well as the Inspector-General of Police, for an order of restraint.

The order sought was an injunction to restrain the defendants from undertaking or participating in the demolition of the waterfronts. The court process was duly-served on the Rivers State government and others.

The suit came up for hearing on August 14. Okrika people’s counsel, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) prayed the court to restrain the Rivers State government from demolishing the waterfronts.

Counsel to the respondents, Mrs. Agomoh Uche, was in support of adjournment on the grounds that her clients were served the court papers late.

The presiding judge, Justice G. K. Olotu, made an order of status quo ante, preventing the Rivers State government from carrying out demolition of any of the waterfronts, pending the next adjourned date of October 13.

Olotu stated that the issue of jurisdiction would be entertained when the case resumed.

Many Okrika people were at the court to show their support for the suit, thereby expressing their displeasure to the state government’s policy.

The Chairman, Okrika Divisional Council of Chiefs, Senator James Sekibo, stated that the payment of compensation to landlords was different from resettlement of the people.

Sekibo noted that Okrika people wanted the government to reclaim the lands and resettle the people in the reclaimed areas, stressing that if the government was allowed to go ahead with the planned demolition, the people would be rendered homeless in areas where securing decent accommodation had been a Herculean task.

The state government, around 6:00 am on Friday, August 28, dispatched a demolition squad, comprising officers and men of the police, army, air force, navy and state security service (SSS) to Njemanze waterfront and destroyed the buildings in the area.

The heavily-armed men had armoured personnel carriers, gunboats and helicopters as back-ups, reminiscent of the invasion by operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri south-west local government area of Delta State in the Niger Delta region or the levelling of Odi, headquarters of Odi LGA of Bayelsa State by soldiers.

Before setting the bulldozers at work, the soldiers barricaded both ends of the road leading to Njemanze waterfront with armoured vehicles, manned by fierce-looking military men, who drove away passers-by with horsewhips and threatened to shoot those who attempted to assist their friends and relations to evacuate their personal effects.

Many protesting residents of the waterfront were also arrested and locked up in military vans, while the demolition was going on.

Most of those affected by the exercise are currently living in most-depressed physical, mental and moral conditions, plagued by hunger and ill-health, with many of them now squatting in uncompleted buildings and open premises, at the mercy of the weather. The residents of the waterfront are now living as refugees in their fatherland.

Hundreds of house owners of waterfronts in Port Harcourt, armed with placards and banners bearing various inscriptions protested the demolition of their property on September 3, 2009; accusing the state government of deceit, while calling for the suspension of the exercise.

The landlords, who spoke through their President, Pastor Harrison Wokoma, at a news conference at Abonnema Wharf Community Hall, also alleged that the Abonnema Wharf and Njemanze waterfronts in Port Harcourt had already been earmarked for Dangote Group of Companies and Bua Nigeria Limited.

The house owners said Amaechi and some members of the state’s House of Assembly were also interested in converting the areas into a trailer park, storage and sale of imported fuel, to the detriment of a great number of Rivers people.

Amnesty International, through its Africa Press Officer, Ms. Eliane Drakopoulos, protested the demolition exercise, calling for more consultation with the about 200,000 people that could be affected.

Amnesty said the forcible eviction of the residents of the waterfronts, to make way for commercial development, would not be in the best interest of the people, calling on the Rivers State government to explore all feasible alternatives to evictions and avoid or minimise the use of force.

UN-HABITAT also stated that some 45,000 people live at Njemanze and Abonnema Wharf waterfronts, currently targeted for demolition.

The Social Action Nigeria, working in concert with civil society groups and community people, through its Programme Officer, Celestine Akpobari, also condemned the ongoing demolition, which it said should be stopped, with alternative housing provided for the over 200,000 residents of Port Harcourt’s 41 waterfront communities.

The Social Action, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), noted that Rivers State government in the past, under the leadership of Dr. Peter Odili and Amaechi as Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly (for eight years), allegedly deceived and displaced the people of Rainbow Town in Port Harcourt.

The NGO said Rainbow Town was demolished under the pretext of reconstructing and building low-cost housing for the evicted residents, only for the plots of land to be allocated to the rich and powerful in Nigeria, including present top officials of Rivers State government.

The group said that the Njemanze demolition was carried out without regard to several International Human Rights Covenants like the Habitat Agenda Commitment, which Nigeria is a signatory to, stressing that the people had right not to be evicted during a special season or bad weather, as it is in Rivers State now.

Social Action added that besides gross disobedience of an existing court order, the state government did not provide alternative accommodation before the demolition, as recommended by international human rights conventions.

The National Union of Tenants of Nigeria (NUTN), in an eight-page address, presented at the news conference by its Secretary-General, Caesar Enwefah, called on Amaechi to provide emergency accommodation as well as relief materials for the suffering and displaced residents.

The NUTN said people had been living at the waterfronts for many years, with some top public officers in the local, state and Federal Governments having once lived at Njemanze waterfront when they were economically handicapped.

Some of the displaced tenants and landlords at Njemanze waterfront were still picking some of their belongings from the rubble.

Inscriptions on some of the placards carried mostly by children aged between two and 10, during the protest, were: "We reject Esho’s Panel report." "We are not criminals." "We are responsible" and "Ben Bruce and Silverbird Group are killing poor innocent people." "We have a right to shelter and livelihood."

Others placards had: "Gov Amaechi, leave waterfronts alone", "Abonnema Wharf community is our home, we have no other place to go" and "Abonnema Wharf demolition is Silverbird’s agenda. Ben Bruce, leave us alone."

The governor, who spoke through his Acting Chief Press Secretary, Blessing Wikina, declared that there was no going back on the demolition to rid the state of criminals and determination to transform the state, through the urban renewal programme.

Amaechi said the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and civil society groups "arranged" the protest, for the coordinators to allegedly justify their pay, accusing them of not being in tune with reality.

He stated that government decided to pay the landlords compensation, after adequately dialoguing with them, stressing that the payment of compensation was in stages, noting that the house owners in the demolished Njemanze area were the first to be paid, while others would also be considered.

The governor noted that the issue of ethnic cleansing did not arise, as the areas were being occupied mostly by non-indigenes, and that Ikwerre people were equally affected in the exercise, pointed out that the demolition, based on security reports, was approved before he became governor on October 26, 2007.

Amaechi said: "On May 18, 1913, by deed of conveyance (transfer of rights and ownership) between chiefs of Okrika and Diobu communities on one hand and Sir Alexander George Boyle, for and on behalf of the Queen of England, the area known as Port Harcourt was sold to the colonial authority.

"Okrika and Ikwerre people cannot lay claim to the land, which belongs to government. Due process was followed in dialoguing with the people and compensating them."

The Senior Special Adviser to the Rivers State Governor on Media and Publicity, David Iyofor, also in his reaction to the allegations, said: "No iota of truth. Utterly false."

The Rivers State government announced that N1.4b was paid to Njemanze landlords as compensation, but investigations revealed that what actually got to them was not up to N200m, with more than half yet to be paid till date.

Some of the prominent landlords at the waterfronts, who expressed displeasure over the demolition included Pastors Harrison Wokoma and Sowari Amachree, Jim Tom George, Gift Jim George, Blessing and Bamiete Briggs, as well as Madam Ibiso Jackrich, who noted that not all the landlords of Njamanze waterfront had been compensated.

Iyofor further described Silverbird Showtime Limited, owners of the galleria (cinema complex) opposite the Njemanze waterfront and near Abonnema Wharf, as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) venture, with the Rivers State Government having 25 per cent share.

The SSA to Rivers State governor on Media and Publicity also said the lower Njemanze was demolished after the landlords were "fully" compensated, adding that the demolition of the upper part of Njemanze (by the road side), was suspended since compensation is yet to be paid to the house owners.

The inhabitants of Njemanze waterfront will be evicted, according to UN-HABITAT, to make way for a development called "Silverbird Showtime." A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Rivers State government and Silverbird Group, owned by Bayelsa State-born Ben Bruce, who is a former Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), agreed to ensure "peaceful evacuation and relocation of present occupants."

Rivers State government has not followed its Physical Planning and Development Law 2003, under which it should have established an Urban Renewal Board, which would have declared the waterfront communities an "improvement area," for which it would have prepared an improvement plan.

The law also requires the state government to provide alternative housing for all the occupants affected, but has (Rivers government) done none of these.

In the four-page address by the Abonnema Wharf house owners’ association, entitled: "Impending imminent danger/human calamity," the governor was accused of pursuing ethnic agenda, camouflaged in the form of urban renewal programme.

The aggrieved landlords said the demolition was an attempt to remove all the vestiges of the Rivers Ijaw, thereby deceiving Rivers people, with Amaechi allegedly craving to empower his Ikwerre ethnic nationality.

The demolition, according to the landlords, would displace and uproot hundreds of thousands of Rivers indigenes from their economic, social and cultural habitation, while the resistance by the people would result in needless conflicts that might exacerbate the volatile situation of the state and other parts of Niger Delta which will further create refugee problem.

The house owners said: "One of the excuses the state government gave for the destruction of waterfronts is the need to rid the state of criminals. As plausible as this reason is, it is just a mere excuse to carry out an agenda of marginalisation against the Rivers Ijaw.

"If the exercise is to rid Port Harcourt City of criminals, then places like Ogbunabali, Rumuigbo, Eneka, and Elekahia and so on should also be demolished, as they have also recorded instances of cultists’ violence.

"If the excuse is that the waterfronts constitute eyesore, then the more visible, but unkempt areas of Diobu and Ogbunabali should also go down. But that is not the case. Only the Ijaw-based settlements must go.

"The promise of the government to return the waterfronts to the owners after development is also deceitful. No amount of money given to property owners can compensate for the unspeakable deprivation which the planned demolition will cause the Rivers Ijaw people of Obolo, Ibani, Kalabari and Okrika, in the affected areas."

The landlords then urged all civil rights groups, well-meaning citizens, different strata of government in the country and the international community, to urgently wade into the sensitive matter.