Description

The city of Port Harcourt and its environs have witnessed an increase in acts of social impunity involving political party elements. One of such incidences took place along a side street off Olu Obasanjo Road running past the gates of Visa Karena, a popular hotel in Port Harcourt, where a GDI (Grassroots Development Initiative) bus parked across the entrance to a close while the passenger bought roast corn fro a roadside hawker. The bus which blocked the entrance to the close for close to seven minutes caused a traffic jam and tempers to flare.It took the intervention of a road user who was in another vehicle to get the bus to move.

Implication: The potential for conflict increases as acts of impunity such as that by the occupants of the GDI bus increase. Other reports show that behaviour like this is not peculiar to elements from one party or the other. It is therefore very likely that violent conflict, which can spread beyond the specific point of initial altercation may erupt from one of such acts.