RESIDENTS of water-fronts in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have been given four months to vacate the area or face the fangs of bulldozers.
Governor Celestine Omehia, who said this at a state banquet at the weekend to mark his 100 days in office said the state government would not go back on its resolve to demolish illegal structures in the water-fronts. He said the move was part of concrete strategy to rid the state of the problem of cultism and beautify the state.
A similar move has been launched against illegal structures at the Lagos Bar Beach where the state government has moved in bulldozers displacing all the occupants and traders around the vicinity.
In Port Harcourt, Governor Omehia said: �The water-front is an inconvenience to those, who live there. The criminals have taken them over from the legitimate residents. This government has decided to redesign our water-fronts. We have already given four months notice to all those, who leave along the water-fronts, and government will not go back on this.�
Lamenting the security situation before his administration took steps to invite the Federal Government, he said it was so bad that the business climate was brought to almost a halt. Out of fear, according to him, most residents thought of moving out of the state. �We were confronted by this situation of criminality. A situation, where people thought of parking out of the state. Those who owned shops could not sell even those who owned petrol stations.�
He said the efforts of the state government to develop the state would come to nought if an atmosphere of terror was allowed to reign.
�All our efforts to develop the state will be in vain if people live in fear. It is important to warn again that this government is determined to bring cultism and their agents to an end. Port Harcourt is free of cultism. As I speak we are chasing them out. We have taken over Ogogboro.�
He said it was a very pathetic sight when the JTF moved into Ogogboro last week, following the killing of some chiefs by suspected cultists. The governor, who sounded very bitter with the situation said no matter what it would cost, his government would guarantee security of lives and properties in the state. He pleaded with the people to see the curfew as one of the steps to ensure safety of lives and properties.
He said his administration had firmly resolved on the carrot and stick approach in dealing with security issues in the state, adding that government would grant amnesty to cultists that genuinely repent just as he expressed utmost gratitude to the Federal Government and the Armed Forces for their cooperation in returning peace to the state.
Sympathising with families of victims of crime in the state, particularly the four naval personnel killed on the high sea some time ago, he said: �Rivers State Government sympathises with them. It is unfortunate our bad brothers did what they did.�
In Lagos, the state government moved in bulldozers to demolish illegal structures at the Bar Beach after the expiration of a three-day quit notice to the illegal occupants.
Governor Babatunde Fashola had two weeks ago issued a 72-hour ultimatum to illegal occupants and traders withing the Bar Beach area to vacate or face forceful eviction.
According to Fashola, the order became necessary to allow for ongoing project of reclaiming the entire Bar Beach area as well as turn it into a world class tourist attraction site.
�Government had been battling for some time to rid the place of illegal traders and miscreants who perpetrated various criminal acts there.
�They defecate around the place with reckless abandon as well as pollute the water with all sorts of wastes and what have you,� one government official said.
The combined team of officials of the state Ministry of Water Front and Tourism Development and Physical Planning, assisted by state security task force in demolishing all structures at the beach.
The traders, who were caught unaware accused government of not giving them enough time to relocate. However, those who agreed that they violated environmental laws of the state appealed to Governor Fashola to relocate them to another place where they could continue with their trading.