Hundreds of women in Rivers State on Friday staged a walkout during an empowerment programme in Port Harcourt, demanding to be addressed by either the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, or the wife of the state governor, Lady Valerie Sim-Fubara.

The event, held at the EUI Event Centre in GRA, Port Harcourt, was part of the Renewed Hope Initiative empowerment programme organised by the office of the First Lady of Nigeria.

It was meant to benefit 500 women in the state with various empowerment items.

Expecting the physical presence of the First Lady, the women — many dressed in traditional double wrappers—gathered in anticipation.

However, tension rose when Dr Theresa Ibas, wife of the State Sole Administrator, was invited to address the crowd in place of Tinubu.

The women began chanting, “We want SIM!” and “We want Valerie Fubara!” in reference to Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his wife, whom they identified as the legitimate First Lady of the state.

They added, “We don’t know Ibas. Tinunu is our President, and our governor is Sim Fubara.”

Some of the protesting women at the empowerment programme in Port Harcourt on Friday, May 2, 2025, before the walkout.

Speaking to newsmen, one of the women said, “We were told the First Lady of Nigeria would be here. 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.”

Another protester, Favour Ekpeye, clarified that the women’s action was not a rejection of the President’s wife but rather a protest against the substitution.

She explained that they staged a walkout because they were expecting the wife of the President to address them and not the wife of the sole administrator.

Ekpeye stated, “The propaganda that we rejected the wife of the president is not true.

“We were told to come and welcome Her Excellency Senator Remi Tinubu, and we dressed up. See me with my double wrapper.

“We were so happy to welcome Her Excellency because we appreciate her good deeds to us with the empowerment programmes.

“So we stood up and left because Rivers women, we are not fragile. We have a governor that we love, and we support our governor.”

She added, “We have a President that we support and we have our mummy of the nation that we support for empowering women in the nation that we so love that we support.”

Efforts by the organisers to pacify the agitated crowd were unsuccessful, as the women continued chanting and gradually exited the venue. (The PUNCH)

•Some of the protesting women at the empowerment program in Port Harcourt on Friday May 2, 2025, before the walkout. Photo: Dennis Naku