Bayelsa State Police Command has arraigned 12 women on charges of unlawful assembly and use of juju to block the ongoing construction of the Yenagoa-Oporoma Road.
The women, said to be protesting against the allged exclusion of their community in the road project, are from Agobiri community in Southern Ijaw council of the state.
In the two counts against the women before the Magistrates’ Court, Oporoma Division, the police accused them of conspiring to commit felony with unlawful assembly on November 24 and 30, 2021 at Agobiri community in Oporoma magisterial district.
The charge sheet read: “That you (all the accused) and others at large, on the same date and place, in the aforesaid magisterial district, with intent to carry out a common purpose, did assemble in such a manner by blocking the ongoing Oporoma-Yenagoa road construction with sticks, plantain, juju and palm fronds.
“You caused persons in the neigbourhood to fear and tumultuously disturb the peace of the people using access road without reasonable occasion and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 54 and punishable under Section 55 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C14 laws of Bayelsa State.”
