Port Harcourt – Business activities in Port Harcourt resumed on Wednesday after a shutdown, due to protest by agitators for Biafra.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the shutdown was due to a protest embarked upon by a group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra. Port Harcourt is Nigeria’s oil capital.
The protesters had said they were protesting the arrest and detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government.
NAN recalls that most banks and businesses closed shops, due to the protest.
Some officials of banks on Aba Road, the epicentre of the protest, said they had to close shop because it was risky to open during the protest.
One of the bankers, who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, said it was better to forgo the day’s business than risk losing customers’ deposits in the banks.
More than 10,000 protesters were reported to have stormed Port Harcourt from Aba in neighbouring Abia, to participate in the protest.
The protest lasted for about 12 hours with a combined team of police and soldiers having a hectic time dispersing the protesters.
A trader on Rumuibekwe Street in Port Harcourt, who simply identified herself as Miss Oluchi, said the protesters made her not to sale her wares.
Another trader, Mr Okafor Chukwu, whose shop is also on Rumuebekwe Street, said however, that the protest favoured him.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Chukwu said he made good sales as protesters trooped into his shop to buy kerosene, soft drinks and palm oil.
Protesters had used the items to wash their faces to douse the effects of tear gas fired at them by security operatives.
NAN learnt that security operatives had expended hundreds of canisters of tear gas in their bid to disperse the protesters. (NAN)