PORT HARCOURT — THE Police in Rivers State have halted moves by youths in the state to tour projects being executed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s administration in various parts of the state.
The planned projects inspection by predominantly students gathering, numbering over 500, was being
facilitated by the Rotary Club in collaboration with the Rivers State Government, yesterday, when policemen stormed the state university venue, where they had converged for the tour.
The tour by the youths is coming after the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had warned youths planning a protest against President Goodluck Jonathan in the state to desist from same.
The police had assumed that the youths, who were reportedly on a retreat by Rotary International, District 9140, were being mobilised by the Rivers State Government for a protest rally against President Jonathan, who the governor had on Thursday again criticised for failure to speedily complete the East-West Road project.
One of the youths, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Vanguard said that Governor Amaechi, while addressing them on Thursday on the issue of leadership, had promised to take them on an inspection tour of some projects embarked on by his administration.
He said the luxury buses provided to take them from their meeting point to the Government House, Port Harcourt had just arrived when 10 police patrol vans stormed the campus and barred them from leaving their hostels.
He said: “When the organisers of the retreat (Rotary Club) insisted on the motive for the obstruction, the policemen claimed that intelligence reports revealed that they were going on a protest match against President Jonathan.
“The policemen, who prevented us from leaving the campus for over one hour said the state Commissioner of Police instructed that none of the Rotarians and students should be allowed to leave the campus until he ascertained that the movement was not sinister and would not lead to a breakdown of law and order.”
The Police, it was further learnt, asked the organisers of the retreat to write an undertaking that they were not carrying out any demonstration over the strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
Contacted for her reaction, the Rivers Police Public Relation Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, said that she was handing over to her successor and could not respond to the issue.
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