Author: The Nation

The royal throne and the entire Opu-Nembe kingdom in Nembe Local Government of Bayelsa State have appealed to the Federal Government, Bayelsa State Government and security agencies to rescue them, as the kingdom is under attack.

The Chairman, Opu-Nembe Council of Chiefs, Chief Ezekiel Ikoli, made the appeal yesterday at a news conference at Opu-Nembe, Bayelsa State.

He said on February 15, there was an attack on Opu-Nembe, which began at about 9pm and lasted till about 6am.

Ikoli said in the attack, three persons, Mr. Bait Agala, Miss Queen Kieriseiyei and Mr. Inikio Walter, were killed and several others sustained injuries, following gunshots and other weapons used by the attackers.

He said the current attack was well-coordinated, starting from the home of the Youth President of Opu-Nembe Kingdom, Ayeritei Moses, an engineer; adding that despite the killings, property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

Ikoli said a similar attack was also carried out on July 11, 2021 in Opu-Nembe, which resulted in the death of Ibeimo Victor, noting that several persons were injured.

He alleged that the mastermind of the attacks was an indigene of the kingdom and others, with the help of some hired militants from other communities.

He said the royal throne and Opu-Nembe kingdom had on several occasions petitioned against the perpetrators, but no action was taken.

He said the mastermind prides himself as above the law, boasting that no security outfit in the country can invite him, let alone arrest him.

Ikoli called on Bayelsa State Government, Federal Government and security agencies to protect them.

THE Consultative Assembly of the Obidient Movement has adopted Senator Ovie Omo-Agege as its consensus governorship candidate for Saturday’s election in Delta State.

Omo-Agege is the Deputy Senate President and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement made available to reporters in Warri yesterday, the group said its decision was informed because Omo-Agege was the most generally- accepted candidate for the election.

The statement, signed by Udofia Victory, Pastor Daniel Agbroko, Omotuwou Onovirakpo and four others, on behalf of the 63 groups that constituted the Delta State chapter, urged ‘Obidients’ to vote for the APC in the governorship election on Saturday.

It said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had performed “dismally” in the over two decades of governing Delta State, despite enjoying huge federal allocations.

The body, an amalgam of independent social movements, political pressure groups, women and youth-based organisations, among others, said Omo-Agege “exudes high sense of responsibility, commitment to critical duties, strong attachment to community service, infrastructure and human capital development.”

It added: “His competence, experience and dynamism informed our decision on the APC governorship candidate. His impressive background as an acute infrastructural and human capital development expert inspired and motivated the ‘Obidient’ movement in Delta State.

“The Deputy Senate President captured in his ‘Edge Agenda’, a clear picture of how his administration will bring about the ideals of good governance. This automatically brings us to the same ideological path.”

Chairman, Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Lauretta Onochie, has appealed to contractors to be patient, to allow the commission address the challenges delaying their outstanding payments. 

Speaking during a courtesy call by a delegation from the NDDC Contractors’ Association at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Onochie told the contractors that their support and cooperation were necessary in resolving the challenges.

Onochie in a statement signed by the commission’s Director, Corporate Affairs, Dr. Ibitoye Abosede, regretted that contractors, who had completed their jobs, were yet to be paid.

She said the commission had set up a committee to streamline the payment of  verifiable outstanding debts.

Onochie said: “One of the first things we did as a board when we assumed office was to look for means to address the issue of unpaid bills. Please, be patient with us. Give us a little more time to do our house cleaning.”

NDDC were paid. 

Niger Delta elders from Ijaw extraction and other states in the region have advocated the emancipation of indigenous people by political leaders.

The people, who spoke under the aegis of Citizens of Kingdoms and City States (COKACS), in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, sought the restoration of their rights and cultural values as indigenous African people.

In the statement signed by the group’s leader, Elder Kalada Jene, the people said the natural norms and values of their kingdoms and communities had been eroded by long military junta and western political system of governance, hence the need to reset the system to restore their rights and privileges to their traditional institutions, where it originally domiciled.

They said: “Under Article 3 of the United Nations (UN) charter declaration, indigenous  people have right to self-determination, and by virtue of that right, they can freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”

They said COKACS was founded to “galvanise and mobilise the founding ethnic nationalities in Niger Delta and its coastline, nationwide and beyond to full realisation of their natural potential, with respect and recognition of their freedom and identification of the respective ethnic kingdoms and city states.

“…knowing that indigenous people have the right to practise and revitalise their cultural, traditional and customs and right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestation of their culture.”

The group’s Information Officer, (Propaganda), Anaye Kanuwari, said the association was meant to remind today’s leaders of the original values of an African man, which served as the guiding principle of the people of the continent, with a view to reorienting  youths and preserving them from extinction.

He said Africa had one of the best cultural values in the world that accorded respect to traditional institutions, elders and families, but worried that western political system of governance had negatively impacted well organised African traditional administrative system, and even eroded it.

Kanuwari said: “All we’re doing is to bring about a renaissance of kingdoms and city states, which is the guiding principle of an average African.

“We have our administrative structure, from the king to the least person in the kingdom; people were ready to obey set rules and orders without coercion.

“It is painful and shameful that in our own time, colonialism and neo-colonialism have eroded our natural governance system…, we’re advocating a reset, so we can take back our cities and kingdoms administratively.

“Imagine today, elders no longer realise they are elders, young men do not know they’re young men, youths don’t know who they are.”

The people called for the inclusion of African culture and value system in the school curriculum, to begin early to mentor the young ones.