SANITATION: STOP RIWAMA’S ILLEGAL LOCKDOWN

On Saturday, September 6, 2025, Rivers people are once again to be subjected to an unlawful three-hour lockdown in the name of sanitation. The Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Agency, led by Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, has ordered that all movement be restricted between 7am and 10am. This is nothing short of contempt of court and a brazen assault on the Constitution.

The law on this matter is settled. Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court categorically ruled that any restriction of movement for sanitation purposes is unconstitutional, null, void, and of no effect. That judgment was not only clear; it was upheld by an appellate court. To attempt such a lockdown today is to spit on the judiciary and on the people.

Freedom of movement is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. No agency—certainly not RIWAMA—has the power to suspend it at will. Every citizen, from the market woman to the medical patient, is entitled to go about their business without being held hostage by an overreaching bureaucracy.

For a new board to reintroduce this reckless order is proof that RIWAMA has lost its sense of purpose. An agency tasked with keeping the environment clean has instead chosen to dirty the civic space with illegal decrees. Environmental protection is essential, but it cannot and must not be pursued by unconstitutional means.

Imagine a mother rushing a sick child to the hospital, or a worker trying to catch an early morning shift. Must they be stopped, harassed, and humiliated under the guise of sanitation? This is not governance. This is tyranny dressed up as public service.

Justice Omotosho’s judgment not only struck down the lockdown but also awarded damages to a citizen who challenged it. That judgment stands as precedent. To disregard it is to tell Rivers people that court rulings are optional, and that government agencies can operate above the law. Such contempt cannot be tolerated.

What sort of democracy thrives when court orders are mocked in broad daylight? If every government agency ignored the judiciary at will, Rivers State would sink into lawlessness. The judiciary is the last refuge of the common man. To flout its authority is to flirt with anarchy.

Worse still, decades of these restrictions have achieved nothing. Port Harcourt is not cleaner. Waste still chokes our streets. What the lockdowns have produced is harassment, extortion, and arbitrary arrests. Citizens are punished, quality man hours are wasted while the environment remains filthy.

Sanitation requires planning, investment, and civic education—not crude curfews. Why has RIWAMA not built sustainable waste collection systems? Why are recycling and enforcement absent? Rivers people are expecting Dr. Nwanosike and his team to provide answers to these troubling questions. Not fall back on an illegal practice already condemned by the courts.

The suspicion is unavoidable: this is less about sanitation and more about control. The same fraudulent “passes” and roadside shakedowns exposed in past lockdowns are likely to resurface. Rivers people deserve better than this endless cycle of illegality and extortion.

We must state it plainly: Rivers citizens are not subjects of a military regime. They are free people in a democracy. No unelected agency or appointed official has the authority to suspend their rights under the guise of keeping the streets clean.

The Rivers State Government and the Commissioner of Police must take note: aiding RIWAMA in enforcing this illegal order is itself unlawful. Any officer who arrests a citizen on this basis acts outside the law and exposes themselves to personal liability. The police are sworn to uphold the Constitution, not to break it.

This is a call on Dr. Nwanosike and RIWAMA to immediately withdraw this unlawful directive. Environmental sanitation is a worthy cause, but it must be pursued within the law. To insist otherwise is to embrace dictatorship in disguise. Rivers people will not, and must not, be bullied into compliance with illegality.

Amieyeofori Ibim is Journalist, political analyst and public affairs commentator