Flood: Orashi region victims stage peaceful protest to Govt House

…Vow to remain in GH until help comes
Driven by the untold hardship caused by the devastating flood in their area, hundreds of indigenes and residents of the Orashi region of Rivers State have staged a peaceful protest to government house, in Port Harcourt, to register their disenchantment with what they described as “the nonchalant attitude of the Rivers State government to the consequences of this year’s flood.

The Orashi region comprises four local government areas of the state: Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni; Abua/Odua; Ahoada-East and Ahoada-West currently heavily flooded.

The protest which was held under the auspices of a civil society organization, Orashi Peoples’ Assembly, was led by the President, Abba Rufus, who said that the flood was currently ravaging their communities and endangering the lives of the people.

The protesters who converged at the Isaac Bori Park, at Mile 1, Diobu, later marched to government house, carrying various placards, some of which read: “If it was electioneering campaign the governor would have visited Orashi region”, “Our people are dying”, “Floods have taken over our homes”, Floods have destroyed our farmlands and crops”, “We need alternative shelter for our families”, Our elders and children are suffering from various diseases”.

Leader of the protesters, Mr. Abba Rufus, said they were prepared to sleep and remain at government house until the state government gave them an assurance that the plight of the Orashi people would be immediately addressed.

He lamented: “Hundreds of communities in the four local government areas in Orashi region have been submerged by flood. Thousands of people have been displaced by the flood. The Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps (IDP’s) cannot accommodate the numbers of people whom have been rendered homeless by the flood.

“We have cried but not heard. We have been displaced but not accommodated. Our houses have been destroyed, but not rebuilt. We have lost lives but not consoled. We have been hungry, but not fed,” he cried out.

He continued: “For two months now, Orashi Region, comprising of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, and Abua/Odua Local Government Areas of Rivers State have been ravaged by flood; our houses have been taken over by water; thousands of our people have been internally displaced; our farmlands have completely submerged by flood; schools and healthcare services shut down, while our people had been reduced to aquatic animals without any response from Rivers State government.”

The Secretary of Orashi Peoples’ Congress, Mr. Bright Abali, who also spoke during the protest march maintained that the people of the Orashi region of Rivers State could not continue to live in the flood waters and in IDP camps, which he pointed out were not enough to accommodate those displaced by the flood waters.

“We cannot afford to continue to live like this. The health situation of our children is too bad. Many have left school; many are hospitalised. Many are living like amphibians in the water; we are not happy; we are in pain.

He continued: “We are calling on the international community to come to our aid. The leadership of this government has shown a high degree of negligence to the region that is sustaining the state. So, the vulnerable people of Orashi region have come to express their Pain that we are not supposed to be abandoned in time of natural disasters like this.”

In a statement he issued, on Friday, October 26, Rufus recalled that the people of Orashi region had on October 11, “called on Governor Nyesom Wike to relocate to Orashi, to give us succour in this trying time, but our appeals were grossly neglected.”

He had emphasised in the statement: “that having exhausted all appeals and media campaign options available to us without any response from the Rivers State Government, we are ready to occupy government house and occupy it.”

Receiving the protesters at Government House, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Barr. Emma Okah, who stood in for the state governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike, debunked the allegation that the state government had abandoned the flood victims of the region.

Mr. Okah, however, assured the protesters that the state government had put workable machinery in place to alleviate their sufferings through their various local government chairmen.