On Saturday, residents woke up to the presence of roadblocks and diversions, especially in the GRA where even residents were now scrutinised before being allowed to enter the area.
To underscore the high level security operation surrounding the First Lady’s visit, Armored Personnel Carriers, APC, have been stationed at both ends of Bauchi Street where her palatial mansion is located along with machine gun positions complete with sandbag walls and scores of mobile policemen on guard.
The president’s wife is expected to stay in the state for 11 days. National Mirror learnt that even the River State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has been caught up in the security lockdown and he was unable to attend a wedding on Saturday.
It was learnt that by the time the governor was ready to go out, the road leading to the Government House had been blocked, while the rear entrance which is close to the First Lady’s mansion was also shut to traffic.
One of the governor’s aides, who was contacted by telephone yesterday said: “The road was not opened until noon and by the time His Excellency arrived at the venue, the wedding was over.”
The First Lady had attended the wedding ceremony of one of her aides, who is also a member of the House of Assembly, Evans ‘Bibi’ Bapakaye, at the Civic Centre in Port Harcourt and traffic was hectic as there were marked diversions around the Isaac Boro Park, Marine Base, Station Road, Hospital Road, Bereka Street and Moscow Road within the old city.
All these roads are the major highways connecting the State Secretariat and the Downtown of the city to the other areas of the metropolitan city and they serve as the hub for vehicular and human movements in the city.
Disruption of traffic flow in the areas always leads to a punishing gridlock, which was exactly what happened on Saturday. Cars were not allowed near these areas and residents walked for hours to reach various destinations. Journalists, who covered the assignments have to make use of hotels and cybercafés around the area to file their stories as traffic was still hectic until around 9p.m.
Even though the First Lady has not been involved in any serious official business since Saturday, there is still heavy security presence in the city, with a lot of diversions still causing heavy traffic jams around the GRA areas where she resides.
To press home the importance of her visit to the state, Divisional Police Officers were directed to personally take charge of traffic in their divisions, while all vacations among police officers in the state have been cancelled or put on hold until the departure of the President’s wife.
A DPO, who spoke with National Mirror on condition of anonymity, said most of the security personnel in the state are engaged in ensuring the safety of the First Lady as it is the priority assignment in the state now.
“We can’t go on leave or vacation now and we have all been ordered to personally supervise traffic and security operations in our various formations. We understand she will be around for 11 days, that means another seven more days,” he said.
Investigations by National Mirror, revealed that the First Lady will be commissioning the South- South Zonal Office of her Pet Project, ‘Women for Change and Development Initiative’, while she is also billed to be involved in the burial of her grandfather, slated for the coming weekend. Some Port Harcourt residents expressed disgust at the huge inconveniences the visit was causing especially since her stay will be prolonged.
“How long are we going to cope with all these problems now? We thought she was only going to be here for the weekend only for us to get to the Azikwe end of the road and still meet heavily-armed policemen, on getting to Isaac Boro park, we were turned back by stern-looking policemen again,” Egi Dombraye, a businessman in the state lamented
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