Tony John, Port Harcourt

Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, has demolished two hotels for disobeying the state government’s Executive Order 6.

The affected hotels were Prudent Hotel, Alode, and Etemeteh Hotel, Onne in Eleme Local Government Area of the state.

The demolition, according to the governor, was in line with the Government’s Executive Order 6, which banned the operation of hotels across the 23 local government areas of the state.  Wike, who monitored the operation, told journalists that the law must be obeyed. Hence, the state government’s decision to enforce it.

He said: “Government has no alternative, but to apply the Executive Order which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. I called all the traditional rulers and council chairmen and told them to ensure no hotel operates in the state.

“We are not saying it will be forever. This is for now, so that we know where we are. To reduce the cases and check the spread.

“Whether you are People’s Democratic Party (PDP) or not, all we are saying is that nobody is above the law. If we can do this to a PDP person, then, you know we are not discriminatory.

“Everyone must obey. Whether you are in PDP, Social Democratic Party or no party,  you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply.

“We said no hotel should operate within this period. Unfortunately, the PDP youth leader in Eleme joined others to flout the executive order.  Therefore, the executive order will be applied.

“We said if any hotel operates, government will bring down that hotel. We are doing what we have told people that we are going to do.

“Nobody wants to obey rules. We are saying just for now, keep off, let us see how we can keep our people safe,” he said.

The governor said the focus on hotels was due to the fact that one of the cases in the state spread the virus from a hotel.

He said: “Look at the rate of infections, most of these people are found in hotels. Look at the man that died, he was at Mingi Hotel in Rumumasi. Due to that contact, we have had other seven cases.”

Meanwhile, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) Leader, Ralph Uwazurike, has condemned the demolition, describing it as high handedness.

The MASSOB leader said the government should have sealed off the hotels instead of demolishing them.