Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has criticised former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi after heavy flooding disrupted movement around the venue of the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, with some lawyers reportedly paying local residents thousands of naira to carry them through the water.
Video footage from the conference exit showed lawyers attempting to leave the venue through a section covered by muddy floodwater. Some delegates were seen rolling up their trousers and wading through the water, while others were carried on the backs of local residents who had turned the difficult conditions into an impromptu service. Accounts accompanying the footage said some lawyers paid between N3,000 and N5,000 depending on the distance.
The incident occurred as the NBA’s week-long 2026 Annual General Conference, themed “Beyond Limits”, was drawing to a close in Port Harcourt. The conference ran from August 21 to 28 and brought together lawyers, judges, academics, politicians, government officials and other guests from Nigeria and beyond. The event included discussions on democracy, the rule of law, security, the legal profession and Nigeria’s political future.
The flooded exit quickly became a subject of public attention after video of the scene circulated online. In the footage, lawyers can be seen trying to negotiate the water while others wait to be carried across. Some of the people assisting delegates were also reported to have sold slippers and umbrellas to participants caught by the flooding.
Sowore used the incident to renew his criticism of Amaechi, who governed Rivers State from 2007 to 2015 and later served as Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation under former President Muhammadu Buhari. His comments followed a confrontation between the two politicians at the NBA conference earlier in the week.
During a political session at the conference on August 24, Sowore and Amaechi exchanged opposing views about political leadership and the records of former officeholders. Amaechi, who represented former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar at the session, defended his record in office and challenged Rivers lawyers to take Sowore around the state to see projects he said had been delivered during his tenure.
Amaechi referred to roads, schools and other infrastructure projects associated with his administration, telling lawyers to show Sowore the projects he said he had built across Rivers State. He also defended his record as transportation minister, citing the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna railway projects among developments undertaken during his tenure.
Sowore subsequently connected those claims to the flooding at the conference venue. In a post on X, he argued that the condition of the area surrounding the NBA gathering offered a contrasting picture to Amaechi’s description of the infrastructure legacy of his administration.
He pointed to the flooded roads and the difficulty experienced by lawyers leaving the conference, using the images to question the broader condition of infrastructure in Port Harcourt and Rivers State. His criticism was political in nature and focused particularly on the contrast between claims of infrastructural transformation and the conditions visible in the footage.
Amaechi’s administration has previously published extensive claims about its infrastructure programme. Records associated with the former governor’s administration state that it completed 890 kilometres of road projects out of a wider programme covering 1,424 kilometres, alongside bridges, interchanges, flyovers, shore-protection projects and other infrastructure. Those figures were also cited in statements issued by Amaechi’s administration in response to criticism from his successor, Nyesom Wike, in 2015.
The administration also claimed significant investments in education, healthcare and electricity, including the construction of schools and primary healthcare centres and expansion of electricity generation capacity. These figures remain part of the former governor’s published record of his tenure and are central to his defence of his performance in office.
The current flooding incident, however, has shifted attention from the historical record to the condition of infrastructure facing residents and visitors in Port Harcourt today. Flooding is a recurring challenge in the city, where rainfall, drainage capacity, road conditions and urban development have frequently been linked to difficulties in moving around some neighbourhoods during periods of heavy rain.
The criticism has also emerged alongside complaints from some participants about the organisation and welfare arrangements at this year’s NBA conference. Senior Advocate of Nigeria Monday Onyekachi Ubani published an interim assessment in which he described aspects of the event as “lacklustre” and “deeply disappointing”. He raised concerns about conference materials, organisation and other aspects of delegates’ experience, while comparing the event unfavourably with the previous year’s conference in Enugu.
The flooding therefore became part of a wider discussion about the quality of the conference experience and the infrastructure surrounding major public events in Port Harcourt. The NBA conference attracted a large number of participants, placing additional pressure on transport routes and facilities around the host city.
The video showing lawyers being carried through the water also produced an unusual scene in which residents appeared to provide services that would ordinarily be unnecessary at a major national conference. Participants could be seen attempting to protect their clothing and belongings while finding alternative ways to reach dry ground.
Reports of payments of N3,000 and N5,000 for the carrying service have been attributed to accounts accompanying the video. The amounts should therefore be understood as reported prices from the scene rather than an officially established fee charged to all delegates.
Neither the flooding footage nor Sowore’s criticism, by themselves, establishes responsibility for the condition of the particular exit route. The venue, road and drainage infrastructure may involve different levels of government, private operators or conference organisers, depending on the precise location and facility involved.
The incident nevertheless provided Sowore with a politically potent image as Nigeria moves towards the 2027 general elections. His criticism of former officeholders has increasingly focused on the gap between political claims of achievement and the everyday experiences of Nigerians.
For Amaechi, the confrontation forms part of a broader political debate over his record in Rivers State and his subsequent national role. His supporters continue to point to roads, bridges, schools, healthcare facilities and other projects delivered during his governorship, while his critics argue that infrastructure claims must ultimately be measured against the condition of public services and communities.
The flooded NBA conference exit has therefore become more than an isolated inconvenience for delegates. It has entered an ongoing political argument over infrastructure, governance and accountability in Rivers State, with Sowore using the episode to challenge Amaechi’s narrative of transformation.
As the conference concludes, the immediate issue for lawyers and other participants is the disruption caused by the flooding. The wider political question raised by the incident is whether infrastructure delivered by past administrations has been adequately maintained and whether successive governments have done enough to address Port Harcourt’s continuing drainage and flooding challenges.
For now, the images of lawyers wading through floodwater or paying to be carried to safety remain the most visible symbol of the controversy, while the competing claims over Rivers State’s infrastructure legacy are likely to continue as Nigeria approaches the 2027 election season.
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