Rivers women walk out of Remi Tinubu’s empowerment programme, protest presence of Iba’s wife

On March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers.

Tosin Ajuwon • May 2, 2025

Remi Tinubu [Credit: THISDAYLIVE]

Scores of women on Friday walked out of an empowerment programme facilitated by President Bola Tinubu’s wife, Remi, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The angry women were protesting the presence of Theresa Ibas, wife of the sole administrator of the state, at the venue of the programme held at the EUI Event Centre, GRA, Port Harcourt.

They were dressed in a wrapper and clad in a white vest with a scarf bearing the name of the suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.

Trouble started when the wife of the state’s sole administrator, Mrs Ibas, was invited to address the women and give her speech.

In a video by Channels TV, the women stood up in protest — chanting, “Bring Back Fubara, we don’t know Ibas.”

They were also demanding that the wife of the suspended Rivers governor, Valerie Fubara, should address them instead of the wife of the administrator of the state, Mrs Ibas.

“We want SIM!” and “We want Valerie Fubara!”one of the women shouted in the video footage.

Addressing journalists after disrupting the programme, one of the protesting women said they were mobilised for an empowerment programme to benefit 500 women in the state.

She added that the organisers also told them they would use the opportunity to meet with Mrs Tinubu.

“We were told the First Lady of Nigeria would be here,” she said.

According to her, “If not her, then the wife of our governor, Lady Valerie Sim-Fubara, should speak to us.

“Not someone representing someone who doesn’t represent us. We don’t know Ibas. Tinubu is our president, and our governor is Sim Fubara.”

It was learnt that all efforts by the organisers to pacify the protesting women and calm their nerves proved abortive, as many of them angrily left the programme.

Busola Kukoyi, the spokeswoman for Mrs Tinubu, could not be immediately reached for comments.

On March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers amid the political crisis in the state between Mr Fubara and his predecessor, the current minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike.

Mr Tinubu immediately appointed a sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, a decision that did not go down well with many residents and groups in the state.

Critics of the president have also described the appointment of Mr Ibas as unconstitutional and a flagrant abuse of power by Mr Tinubu.

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