Governor of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, is quoted to have banned the staging of ‘Revolution Now’ protest in the state.
He also reportedly directed all council chairmen in the state to report any suspected activity in that regard to designated authorities.
The directive is contained in a statement issued by the governor’s Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu.
Publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the February 2019 election, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, had called for a nationwide staging of protests against what he called bad governance.
He had termed the protest, #RevolutionNow, and it was planned to take place on Monday, August 5.
The Department of State had picked up Omoyele in the early hours of Saturday, stating the call for revolution as the reason.
Apart from Governor Wike, the Coalition of Northern Groups has also declared that “those organising the protest are couriers of foreign destabilisation plots that are not in the interest of the North.”
The CNG urged Northerners to not take part in the protest.
In the statement issued by his media assistant, Governor Wike said, “Rivers State is not part of the ‘Revolution Now’ protest and whatever illegal agenda it sought to pursue.
“Rivers State does not subscribe to what the ‘Revolution Now’ protest represents and Rivers State is not part of the protest.”
He then ordered the security agencies in the state to arrest and arraign for prosecution anybody who gets involved in the protest.
