The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger delta

  • Bayelsa stakeholders accuse security firm of extra-judicial killings

    A group of stakeholders in Bayelsa State yesterday yesterday accused the Darlong Security Services (DSS) of masterminding extra-judicial killings in the state.

    The non-governmental organis-ation (NGO),  Kimisese Mass Movement for Good Governance (KMMGG), called for the suspension of all operations of the company in the state pending the conclusions of investigations into the alleged criminal activities against the firm.

    The group also appealed to the the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to save the state from crisis and further bloodshed by withholding the pipeline surveillance contract it awarded to the firm.

    Speaking in Yenagoa, the Chairman, KMMGG, Mr. Charles Kuroteizi, showed that the security firm had issues and must submit itself for investigations.

    The security firm, owned by David Lyon, a loyalist of former Governor Timipre Sylva, is handling surveillance contract for NAOC in the state.

    Its activities came under scrutiny following a resolution of the state House of Assembly in a motion sponsored by a member representing Sagbama two, Bernard Kenebai accusing the firm of killings in the creeks.

    The plight of Darlong worsened on Wednesday when members of the House of Representatives unanimously sponsored a motion at the House seeking the suspension of all surveillance contracts in Bayelsa.

    Kuroteizi said from the findings of their organisation, many indigenes were killed in various communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

    He said: “We engage you (press) today due to somek critical security issues bedevelling the peace in SILGA and if not urgently handled could metamorphose into serious crisis.

    “As a responsible organisation, we cannot sit down in our comfort zone and watch insecurity deteriorate to the level where youths are allegedly murdered in cold blood on a daily basis by Dalong Security Service under the guise of protecting oil facilities in the communities.

    “From petitions at our disposal, one Erelayefa Ayawei, a native of Korokorosei was allegedly killed while Delight Olando and Justina Samuel sustained gunshot injuries.

    “In Ikeinghbiri community, Mr. Kosene Komoh0Nimitei was allegedly shot dead. At Ondewari community, four persons including Deintei Rufus, Kombowei Godknows, Showboy Imienye and Ebimobowei Alasuo were killed by the same security company while Akpokere Christopher lost his leg to amputation owing to bullet wounds.”

    He added that in Korokorosei community, 12 houses were allegedly burnt down and 25 persons in exile in neighbouring communities for fear of being attacked.

    Kuroteizi asked Governor Seriake Dickson to immediately set up a panel of inquiry and investigate the alleged killings and bring the perpetrators to book within three weeks.

    “But if nothing is done at the expiration of three weeks ultimatum, we will commence a legal action against the governor. Afterall, one of the responsibilities of government is to protect lives and property,” he said.

    In its reaction, the management of Darlong described the allegation as lies, unthinkable and unfortunate, saying it existed only in the imagination of the accusers.

    Its Public Relations Manager and Security Coordinator, Mr. Preye Oseke, said there was nothing illegal and criminal in the activities of the company.

    He described the allegations from the group as “ill-conceived, malicious, unfounded and politically motivated.”

    He said that Darlong as a responsible and law-abiding firm, operates within the limits of the law, adding that its operations created jobs for more than 4,000 youths hitherto engaged in oil theft and sundry crimes in the creeks of Bayelsa.

    Oseke said: “If we killed somebody, what is the name of the bereaved? Who killed him? When, where and how? I am the spokesman for the company and I am telling you that Darlong Security and Guards is never involved in criminalities.

    “If you say somebody is stockpiling arms, which employee of Darlong is stockpiling arm? At where? The state government should go to the place with security agents and get the arms that are being stockpiled.

    “If any government person has any criminal case against any employee of our company, they should write the Inspector General of Police, and other security agencies and let them get the person arrested and be prosecuted,” he said.

     

  • How Edo, police nabbed man duping job seekers

    When I was going for the job interview, I rubbed anointing oil on my face and forehead so that I will be selected. My Pastor also prayed for him after I showed him the application form I obtained for N2000.”

    These were the words of one of the job seekers who were fleeced by a consulting firm, KAI Environment, which claimed to be recruiting workers for the Edo State Ministry of Environment and Sustainability.

    The applicant who simply gave his name as Osas said he was told about the job recruitment ongoing at Bins Hotel along Ekenwan road and he went to check it out. He said it was what he observed that made him to pay N2000 to obtain application form.

    Osas attended the interview session and was told he qualified but had to pay N15,000 for uniform. He said he was on his way to pay the N15,000 when he was called that the head of the KAI Environment, Prince Benjamin Amaechi Chukwurah has been arrested after journalist investigated the recruitment exercise and broke the news about the fake recruitment.

    However the N15,000 was not the only money the firm demands from job seekers. Others were N2000 for registration form, N2000 for identity cards, N2000 for handouts, N500 for training fees and N500 for examination fees.

    What made many people fell for the scam was that they taught it was part of the 200,000 jobs promised by Governor Godwin Obaseki. Besides, the facebook page of the KAI Environment carried the photographs Prince Chukwurah took with some government officials at the Edo State Government House.

    Chukwurah claimed he hailed from the royal palace of Ugbunor community in Delta State. He said he attended the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where he studied Public Administration. He claimed he registered KAI Environment as a non-governmental organisation in Delta State.

    In November last year, Chukwurah stormed Edo with some of his recruits from Delta State and wrote a proposal to Obaseki stating his plans to partner on ways to make the state clean. What was missing in his proposal that aroused suspicion was his refusal to include how he planned to be paid or pay his workers.

    It was gathered the proposal was sent to the Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Omoua Alonge Oni-Okpaku. To perfect his plans, Prince Chukwurah and his team dressed in their lemon green uniforms started frequenting the premises of ministry. They would stay outside under the tree to perhaps create impression that they were part of the system.

    During the celebration of the World Environmental Day, Chukwurah sent one of his deputies, Mr. Mok Emmanuel, to attend the event and posed as an official from Abuja. It was learnt that Mok was made to stay at high table closed to the commissioner.

    He enlisted an official of the ministry identified as Friday and obtained list of markets, dumpsites and moats which he later paraded as the mandate areas given to him by the state government.

    Three months ago, Prince Chukwurah began recruitment of workers to be supposedly assigned to various beats after the state government approved his proposal. To convince his victims, he used the Ministry of Environment as his address on the application letter and included pictures of Governor Obaseki. As the number of interested applicants increased, the fees for uniform rose from N7500 to N15000.

    He invited some persons from the legion of ex-service men, paramilitary organisation and an official of the ministry to give talks to the new recruits. The keep fit exercise was carried out at the Garrick Memorial School after which the recruits were given uniforms. Various ranks ranging from Lieutenant to Major were assigned to the new recruits. Junior officers were made to salute senior officers especially within the Bins Hotel.

    The bubble burst for Prince Chukwurah when journalists visited the recruitment center and pretended to be interested. Several persons were seen driving in to pick and submit forms for their relatives. Others were seen undergoing interview sessions.

    Franklyn Nwachukwu who said he is a disciplinary officer of KAI Environmental his boss was recruiting youths with the permission of the state government through the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability.

    He said their target is to recruit 500 persons across the state and they would be made to write examination as well as undergo physical fitness.

    According to him, “We will be responsible for ensuring that people put dirt in Waste bins even when they are inside the vehicle. We will put waste basket in every parts of the state.

    “We have not posted people out. We are still collecting credentials. We are recruiting for the state government. Without the state government approval, we will not be here.

    “Officials of the Ministry of Environment were here to talk to the recruits even Road safety people were here. People are to pay for forms and uniform. They can go and buy their boot.”

    Speaking to newsmen shortly after he was arrested, Prince Chukwurah said it was Mok Emmanuel that had discussions with state government officials on his behalf. He said he registered the Kick Against Indiscipline Environment as a non-governmental organisation to help keep the environment clean.

    “I have only made N180,000 from the sales of forms and that the applicants were yet to pay. I registered Kick Against Indiscipline to join the government to clean up the environment and illegal dumping of waste. We started in Delta State and are being supported.

    “We do voluntary service. We applied to work in Edo State last year November. We were not given approval but we recruit and train people to carry out sensitisation on how people should dump their waste. We wrote to the governor and he minuted the letter to the ministry of environment.

    “My proposal has not been approved. The illegal aspect of it is that it has not been approved but on my agency, I tell people I want to train them and they pay for materials

    “When government has not given me approval that is different but when I train people, they pay. We told government about our parameters but did not tell us to go and collect money.

    “We started collecting money and recruiting people because there was an assurance. We were to prepare them for the job they were going to give to me.  In Delta State, our workers earn between N15,000 and N25,000.

    “Our plan is to pay workers in Edo from penalties paid by defaulters. If government said we should refund money we will do that. I do not see what I have done as a fraud.” Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Omoua Alonge Oni-Okpaku, said the ministry officials never had any meeting with Chukwurah adding that she was skeptical when a staff of the ministry invited Mok to seat with her on the World Environmental Day celebration. The commissioner said she has previously chased Chukwurah away from the premises of the ministry after she found that they were always loitering around. She said Chukwurah and his members would be prosecuted and explained that an official of the ministry allegedly involved with the scam did not inform her before giving documents about markets, dump sites and moats to Chukwurah.

    Documents recovered from Chukwurah included photographs he took with some state government officials at different functions he attached to the application letters to deceive his victims.

    Edo State Police Commissioner Babatunde Kokumo said the police would unravel all persons involved in the fake job recruitment carried out by the Kick Against Indiscipline Environment also known as KAI Environment.

    Kokumo, who confirmed taking custody of Prince Chukwurah Benjamin, the alleged mastermind of the scam, said investigation has commenced.

    Prince Chukwurah was arrested and interrogated on Tuesday by government officials after journalists exposed his illegal activities at Bins Hotel.

    Kokumo said all persons involved in the scam including government officials would be exposed after investigation has been concluded.

    “They have transferred the man to us. We will take it up from there. We are doing our investigation.”

  • How Ayade’s trailblazing project charms Buhari

    The enormous demands of his office coupled with the complex nature of the federation makes the Nigerian President one of the busiest presidents in the world hence to get President Muhammadu Buhari to pay a visit to a state twice within three years is no mean feat.

    This is why friends and foes alike have been wondering how Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade was able to bring the President to the state twice in three years, especially in view of the fact that both leaders belong to opposing political parties. President Buhari is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while Ayade is governor on the platform of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, (PDP).

    Cross River is one of the few states the President has visited more than once since assuming office May 29, 2015. In fact the state was the first state he officially visited shortly after assuming office.

    The people of Cross River say Ayade’s winning formula which attracts the president to the state is good governance.

    President Buhari’s second coming on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 woke the sleepy but alluring city of Calabar, the Cross River state capital as it bustled with human and vehicular traffic.

    Ecstatic and cheering Cross Riverians lined virtually all the streets in the beautiful city to welcome the president and show appreciation to their performing governor. The Nigerian leader was in the state to commission another of Ayade’s people oriented project, the Cross River Rice Seed and Seedling factory. The facility is the first automated rice seeds and seedlings factory in Africa.

    President Buhari beamed with smiles as he commissioned the project. He was evidently excited by the multi-billion Naira magnificent rice factory and Ayade’s unwavering commitment to decouple the state from over dependence on crude oil driven federal allocation by investing massively in agriculture.

    Essentially, Governor Ayade’s revolution in agriculture resonates across the state with the ongoing construction of rice mill in Ogoja, the cotton farm in Woda – Yala, the cocoa processing plant in Ikom, the banana plantation in Odukpani, the feed mill  and yellow mill maize farm in Obubra, as well as the ultramodern poultry  farm in Calabar for export of  frozen chicken.

    Speaking at the event, the President described Calabar as home and said he was delighted to visit the state again in connection with yet another visionary project from Governor Ayade.

    Buhari: “I must say that visiting the state for the second time within three years in connection with Governor Ayade’s people oriented project is heartwarming.”

    The President expressed joy that Ayade’s agricultural blitz in Cross River is in tandem with his government’s vision.

    “When we assumed the reins of leadership of our dear country, our administration launched a zero-oil economic roadmap as a way of making our country less dependent on oil, while encouraging investments in other sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture. I am happy Governor Ayade keyed into that policy and has today become a reference point in our agricultural revolution effort”, the President said.

    He praised the governor for focusing on projects that are building a new economic base  for Cross River rather projects with short term benefits for the purpose of making cheap political points, saying Ayade “has keen eyes for tomorrow”.

    Buhari is optimistic that seedlings from the Cross River rice factory will improve rice yield from the current national average of 3 to 4 tons per hectare to about 9 to 10 tons per hectares, thus helping to ensure rice sufficiency in the country, save foreign exchange and create jobs for the unemployed. The President thus directed relevant federal government agencies, particularly the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its anchor borrower’s programme to partner with Cross River state in the area of supply of seedlings to farmers.

    Barely 24 hours after the commissioning of the rice factory, the presidential directive assumed life following the receipt of orders from Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) for the supply of rice seedlings to the tune of N2 billion.

    An elated Governor Ayade said: “Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Rice and Wheat Production, Senator Abubakar Bagudu has confirmed that they are ready to take off every quantity we have got, so we have open order in excess of N2 billion”.

    Pledging not to relent in establishing income generating industries that will not only create employment for the people of Cross River state but also reduce the state’s over dependence on monthly federal allocation, Governor Ayade praised President Buhari’s economic policies and assured him of Cross River’s support in that regard.

    Meanwhile, the Cross Rivers state governor has disclosed that plans are underway to get the President to visit the state for the third time to commission the multi-billion naira rice mill in Ogoja when construction is completed.

    Located within the Ayade industrial park which also boasts of the garment factory, pharmaceutical factory, the Cross River cosmetic industry, Noddles factory and Poultry farmer/factory, the Cross River Rice Seeds and Seedlings Automated Factory which is the first in Africa parades massive state of the art machinery and produces high yielding, vitamised and disease resistant rice seeds and seedlings. The factory is expected to generate a yearly income of between N70 billion to N100 billion.

     

  • Give us back our land you acquired forcibly, family tells Bayelsa govt

    Eighty-year-old Godday Egbu, who hails from Kpansia community, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has suffered extreme poverty and deprivation. The signs that all is not well with him are there. His house is dilapidated. He could not train any of his children in school and to feed himself is taxing.

    At his age, Egbu still goes into the bush to eke out a living. But the old man believes that he ordinarily should not have been poor. He blames the government for all the deprivations he suffers in life.

    Egbu lamented that his problems began when the government, during the administration of the late former Governor Diepreye Alamiyeisegha forcefully took over a vast parcel of land he inherited from his father.

    The land formerly referred to as Aziegwe Bush and located at Kpansia area of Isaac Boroh expressway, Yenagoa, became a centre of attraction to the late former governor Alamiyeisegha, who, in his quest to have a Government Reserved Area (GRA), a serene residential area for prominent sons and daughters of the state, reportedly acquired the land for the state government.

    The area is bustling with mansions and edifices of aesthetic beauty. Former President Goodluck Jonathan has gold-plated mansions in the area. Other influential persons and politicians whose buildings dot the area are Boyelayefa Debekeme, Kpolovie Paul, James Tabais, Gideon Ekeowei, Johnson Alalibo and Tiwe Oruminighe, among others.

    But the poor Egbu is always pained whenever he sees such choice buildings on the land.

    Egbu said: “The land belongs to my grandfather. When he died, he transferred the land to my father and after my father’s death I inherited the land. I was cultivating that land. During Alamiyeisegha’s time, the state government took the land from me.

    “We were hungry and I went there to get some food because it was also my farmland.  I got to the land and I saw many security operatives at the place. They didn’t allow me access to the land because they told me the government had taken over my ancestral land. Few days later when I went back, I discovered they had bulldozed everywhere.

    “They started allocating the land and building houses there. Nobody paid me a dime as compensation. With that kind of land, I am not supposed to be poor. But poverty is dealing with me. I can’t even get food to eat. I am suffering and I want my land back.

    “I couldn’t train any of my children in school because there is no money. I can’t even feed them. I want my land back. No compensation was paid to me. I need the land in order to survive”.

    Egbu said he was greatly pained when he discovered that people who plots of land were allocated to by the government, sold them for huge amount of money. He said recently, one of them sold his land and collected about N22m. He begged Governor Seriake Dickson to look into his matter and address the injustice done to him by his predecessor.

    “I know that Governor Seriake Dickson is a lawyer and a man who believes in justice. I am begging him to look into my matter and give me justice. My family is suffering yet we have that kind of property”, he said.

    Corroborating the claims of his elder brother, Barnabas Egbu recalled that the land was taken over by the government in 2004. He said their father, Egbu, suffered heartbreak and died of health complications following the confiscation of the land.

    Also narrating their ordeals, Raphael, the son of Goddey, said he abandoned his education for lack of money. He said his father desired to send him to school but had no money to actualise his ambition. He said if the government had not taken their land by force, they would have no business with poverty.

    But recently when Dickson embarked on demolition of illegal structures on a section of the GRA, he gave an indication that the government was fond of paying compensation after acquiring property.

    “ Once we are convinced that the acquisition did not follow due process and there was no compensation for the acquired property, we will treat them as criminals and we will treat.” But the family urged Dickson to look into the acquisition of its land by his predecessor, insisting that due process he spoke about was not followed.