The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has vowed that his administration will he henceforth, protect all Northetn resident in the Oil rich State, .
Governor Wike made the pledge when he received the Leaders of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, led by its Chairman, Professor Ango Abdullahi, at the Government House, in Port Harcourt, the State capital.
Also part of the Delegation were a former Speaker of the House Of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba; former NRC Presidential Candidate, Bashir Othman Tofa; Hakeem Baba Ahmed; General Saleh Maina (Retd.), among others.
He commended the Northern Leaders for coming to the State, to ascertain what actually happened during the recent EndSARS protests that turned violent in the State.
His words: “The EndSARS protest was very peaceful in Rivers State. Oyigbo Local Government is one of the biggest in terms of population in the State. Miscreants woke up one morning, because people are doing EndSARS protest, and began to kill innocent people.
“They burnt down Police Stations, killed Police Officers and Soldiers, and destroyed courts.
“When you say ‘what you are doing is wrong, we cannot allow it’, they say you are against a particular ethnic group. How can that be? That action almost led to a big violence between this group and that group. I am the Governor of the State, how can I allow my State to be a centre of war? That cannot happen.”
Speaking earlier, Ango Abdullahi said that the Northern Leaders decided to visit Rivers State, after receiving complaints from Northerners resident in the State.
According to the NEF Chairman, the Leaders decided to visit, to get the facts before coming to a conclusion.
He said: “We had a number of complaints from our kiths and kin, on the effect of the EndSARS protest in the South, but it is our belief that we should always base our actions and decisions on facts that we can rely upon rather than rumours. This country is very good in rumour mongering and fake news.”
