Hundreds of women in Rivers State walked out of an empowerment programme in Port Harcourt on Friday after the wife of the State Sole Administrator, Dr. Theresa Ibas, was invited to address the crowd instead of the expected First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, or the wife of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The event, held at the EUI Event Centre in GRA, was organized under the Renewed Hope Initiative by the office of the First Lady of Nigeria and aimed to empower 500 women with various items. The women, many dressed in traditional double wrappers, had gathered in anticipation of either Senator Tinubu or Lady Valerie Sim-Fubara to speak to them.
However, tension escalated when Dr. Theresa Ibas was introduced as the speaker in place of the expected guests. The women, dissatisfied with this substitution, began chanting “We want SIM!” and “We want Valerie Fubara!” in reference to the First Lady of Rivers State. Some protesters also chanted, “We don’t know Ibas. Tinubu is our President, and our governor is Sim Fubara.”
One of the women explained that the protest was not against the First Lady of Nigeria but against the substitution of the expected speakers. Another protester, Favour Ekpeye, clarified that they were not rejecting the wife of the President but had specifically been told to expect Senator Tinubu, and were upset when she was not present.
Despite attempts by event organizers to calm the crowd, the women continued chanting and gradually left the venue in protest. They reaffirmed their support for both the President and their state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his wife, Valerie Sim-Fubara, whom they view as the legitimate First Lady of the state.
