The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Kelvin of Kokori…The man who terrorised Delta

    Kelvin of Kokori…The man who terrorised Delta

    On Wednesday, September 18, Delta State’s most wanted criminal, Kelvin Ibruvwe, made a surprise return to his Kokori hometown in Ethiope East Local Government Area. It marked the beginning of his end. Southsouth Regional Editor Shola O’NEIL and Aiwerie Okungbowa chronicle the criminal career of the man known as Kelvin of Kokori

     

    Since his criminal escapades propelled him into the top list of Niger Delta’s most wanted criminal, Kelvin Ibruvwe, has become a mystery of sort. He is so popular that he is known simply by his first name. He is diminutive, wealthy and impudent.

    His hometown, Kokori, is an oil producing community in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. It is one of the six suburban ‘states’ of Agbon kingdom with a population of between 50,000 and 100,000 persons, occupying about 196 square kilometres.

    The fear of Kelvin was the beginning of wisdom in Kokori. Nobody crossed his path and went free. He was the defacto ruler of Kokori.

    He is not unlike Lawrence Anini, the infamous armed robbery kingpin whose fame and notoriety spread through the country in the mid-80s.

    Scores of verified and unverified sorties were attributed to him, so much so that he became known as the cat with nine lives.

    Kelvin’s notoriety as a crime lord was cemented in 2012 with his brazen kidnap operation and deadly high profile armed robbery operation in Warri, Eku, Abraka and other parts of state. He was also fingered as the ring leader of a vast kidnap syndicate, whose operation spread beyond the state.

    He placed his Kokori home town, one of the sub-clans that make up Agbon Kingdom in Ethiope East Local Government Area, on the world map, but for the wrong reason. The town has been tagged the headquarters of kidnappers in the Niger Delta region.

    Reliable police sources said eight of every 10 robbery operations in the Osubi-Eku- Agbor axis of the state were either planned in Kokori or executed by gunmen trained by the young man.

    The reputation of the Urhobo town was not helped by reports that some prominent chiefs were shielding him and his criminal gangs from the law. He was declared wanted by the Delta State Police Command earlier this year. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, said the efforts of the police to arrest him were thwarted by community leaders in the area.

    As bloody as he had been, Kelvin outperformed himself when he led a team to secure the release of his ally and fellow kidnap suspect, who was awaiting trial at the Okere Prison in Warri. Rufus, the suspect, and other suspects were being taken by wardens for a court appearance when they accosted them and opened fire on the prison vehicle, killing at least three wardens and two civilians before freeing their man.

    Their getaway was as loud as the operation: they shot their way through the heavy traffic from Okere Road, through the NPA Expressway to Effurun Roundabout, where they left trails of blood, bloodied victims, bullet-riddled cars and thousands of panic-stricken residents in their wake.

     

     

  • Amazing story of a rich Island whose people need help

    Amazing story of a rich Island whose people need help

    It is regarded as the richest Island in the country. It hosts the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Mobil Producing Unlimited and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). But,OLUKOREDE YISHAU, who has been to the Island three times, writes that the richness of the Island has benefited the government and a few individuals more than the people. It is feared if the community does not get the help it needs, it will pose future threats.

     

    It has a place in global history. Its name rings bell far and wide. It takes some three hours to access it by water. By air, it is slightly more than 20 minutes. Its soils are swarmed by resources that bring money. But they can’t bring money unless technology beyond the reach of the people are deployed, leaving the Island in no position to tap the resources. So blessed is it that it has no rival in the Niger Delta. One of the three companies operating on its soil has paid dividends of no less than $9 billion to the Federal Government since it began operation some years ago. The others have also paid several billions from what they have earned operating there. Other government agencies have also collected billions of dollars as dues, levies and what have you over the years.

    For this regular supply of cash to the federal, state and other purses, its people enjoy uninterrupted power supply at little or no cost. No wonder, the editor of a film ‘Last Flight to Abuja’ chose Bonny Island for the editing of some delicate parts of the movie, which he could not risk with the epileptic power supply in the other areas of the country.It also has access to pipe-borne water.

    Many an indigene of the area from which a popular light crude oil got its name, had also benefited from scholarship schemes. And not a few are working in juicy sectors of the economy largely on account of being from the rich Island.

    On its soil, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has a huge crude oil export terminal known as the Bonny crude oil terminal – the largest of its kind in Africa.

    The facilities have more than doubled the amount of oil it can process and export to 1.25 million barrels a day.

    The fully automated system is one of the most technologically advanced terminals in Africa and gives Nigeria the potential to deliver uninterrupted crude oil exports for the next 25 years.

    But, it appears that is where the good news ends.

    Its traditional ruler, the Amayanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom, King Edward Dappa Pepple 111, recently spearheaded a pan-Bonny Sustainable Development Conference. At this conference, it was clear to all that the Island could pose a threat to the oil giants operating there and the economy of the country if it does not get the help it needs.

    Its traditional ruler, the Amayanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom, King Edward Dappa Pepple 111, recently spearheaded a pan-Bonny Sustainable Development Conference. At this conference, it was clear to all that the Island could pose a threat to the oil giants operating there and the economy of the country if it does not get the help it needs.

    A brochure for the conference noted the wealth of the land. It reads:”The presence of big industries has supported the emergence of critical infrastructure that is capable of driving economic and social transformation. Bonny people have worked with industry stakeholders to put in place a Bonny Development Master Plan to guide orderly development of the Kingdom; however the plan implementation requires Government support and income generation activities which is dearly need.

    “Therefore, going forward into the future and the need for next step to achieving sustainable development that can support the speedy growth of the Bonny community, this conference is aimed at providing a platform for all stake holders to rub minds on ways of ensuring that development remains on a sustainable path of growth into the future; inspire the Bonny community to embrace a process for re-orientation and make commitment toward self-reliance for sustainable development in all ramifications.

    “This can happen if Bonny in the face of current realities evolve new enabling conditions for investor partnerships, focus on ways and means towards generating activities that improve development in a manner that ensures that all segments of the community own, drive and actively participate and benefit from its implementation.”

    One area the community must be helped so that its youths do not become threats to both the companies and the elite is education.

    A World Bank consultant, Dr Rosemary Nwangwu, revealed the sorry human capital state of the community.

    Dr. Nwangwu said: “The number of teachers in Bonny primary schools is inadequate. There are no teachers even in the core subject areas: English Language, Mathematics and the Sciences. There are 21 public primary schools in Bonny Local Government Area. These 21 schools have a total of 5,949 pupils (male 3010, female 2939) taught by 139 teachers. This gives a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:44 as against the policy stipulated ratio of 1:35.

    “The secondary schools are no better staffed. There are four public junior and four public senior secondary schools in the Island…The junior secondary schools have 1,949 students… and are taught by 27 teachers. The senior secondary schools have 1,896 students and are taught by 71 teachers. Also at this level, there are no Mathematics, English Language or Science teachers.”

    The result of these, she said, is poor performance in terminal examinations.

    Dr. Nwangwu said in the last 10 years, the oldest school in the Island has recorded only 12 per cent pass with five credits in WAEC.

    She said: “These young people have been processed into nothingness and are not equipped to do anything. A more dangerous reality for the community is that the young people who are unable to make the pass mark are unable still to get into any other system that can enable them acquire skills. They are lost in the education system and lost to their families in terms of income generation and survival skills. These persons who dropped out from the system cannot help themselves or the system.”

    King Pepple said things have to change. He said there is still a long road to travel. He said the time had come to attract more partners to drive its development other than the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Shell and Mobil Producing Unlimited.

    According to him, the Island must be steered to the shores of development and prosperity for the sake of future generation.

    He said: “We raise our voices to governments, the private sector, all international development agencies, all friendly corporate organisations that Bonny is open for business and to work with all well-meaning people to grow a project that we can all be proud of as partners.”

    The Executive Director of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), Mr Nobel Pepple, said the people must look beyond oil and gas for the development of the community. He said alternatives livelihoods could be found in fishing and agriculture.

    This position was also canvassed by the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Bert Ronhaar, who said with the sea in the Island, it can supply fishes to the rest of the world and make money.

    A communique at the end of the conference said the community must seek new partners to work with existing ones for its development in the areas of human capital and so on. It also agreed to set up and Economic and Social Development Fund to finance and updated Master Plan, service infrastructural and social development.

    SPDC was the first to see the light in Bonny Island. Mobil saw it later. NLNG Limited did not see it until some two decades ago when work started on Africa’s largest LNG plant. They all liked the place and the promise there. The Federal Government, which has interest in all of these ventures, too knows what the country stands to gain from Bonny Island, which hosts the country’s only port of origin.

    The people were happy that the companies came. They had good times at the peak of the construction of the companies. The skilled and the unskilled were employed to get the companies ready. But, much of their expectations have not been met.

    When work on the NLNG seventh train reaches the peak, thousands will be employed too.

    The Federal Government makes billions annually from the area in the form of taxes from the companies operating there. Its joint venture agreement with them ensure dividends pour in in billions of dollars. Its agencies also get taxes.

    From the NLNG alone, in which the country invested through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it has since 2004 received $9 billion as dividends from the company. Additional $2.2 billion could be made annually when the seventh train of the NLNG is ready.

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), a Federal Government agency, also recently got $140 million as maritime duties from NLNG.

    June last year, the NLNG ran into stormy waters with the youths. The youths were angry over the absence of Bonny indigenes on the NLNG 2012 Technicians Training and Employment list.

    One of the Bonny youths, Thompson Beresiri, said: “This injustice must stop. Our leaders have continued to look the other way while our rights are infringed upon by these companies.

    “The issue of local content has been flawed because government has demonstrated lack of political will to tackle the matter head on. However, youths are now prepared to do it their own way to ensure they safeguard their future.”

    The Leader of Bonny Youths Federation, Mr. Gift Furo, said: “I don’t want to believe this is true. We have seen the list and have instituted a showdown meeting with the management of NLNG to further know why out of the 33 persons selected no Bonny or Rivers indigene was considered.

    “I think it is the right thing to do as a responsible youth body before going further with other options.

    “It is painful when you compare the level of development, youth empowerment and employment in other areas where Liquidified Gas plants are located and in Bonny.

    “In terms of preserving our environment, NLNG has failed, in terms of helping to cushion the effect of the environmental devastation caused by the emission, it is zero. In terms of employment, training and other empowerment programmes like the present case, they have failed, regrettably this failures are inherent in the face of the fact that Bonny people have sacrificed their health and existence on the alter of dangerous emission.”

    He said for the youths to become useful, they must be gainfully employed or trained to attain their full potential.

    The youth leader said government at all levels have failed to demonstrate the political will to ensure that the local content law is judiciously implemented by the companies in Niger Delta.

    According to him, “companies have been allowed to do things the way they like without recourse to host communities and youths. There is need for government and corporate bodies to ensure that the futures of youths are protected through the assurance of gainful employment after graduation from school.

    “Also, sustainable skills acquisition for those not in the academic area will also go along way in checking the vices in the society. If this is not done, the youths who are ambitious by nature will surely feel discontented unleashing the disastrous consequences on the society.”

    Mobil and Shell have also run into problems with the youths over spills and so on.

    With the right help to develop its land and people, the threats will be mitigated. Without that, there is fire on the mountain. It seems no one is running!

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘I was a houseboy before God turned my life around’

    ‘I was a houseboy before God turned my life around’

    What is the reason behind your NGO – Arm of Hope World Outreach?

    It is my NGO and a child of circumstances because many years ago as a child in a family of 10 – five girls and five boys. I come from a very poor background and my mum, who was the breadwinner of the family, died and my dad could not train all the children and he also died eventually. I was given out as a houseboy to a very wealthy man in Cameroon but life was not as comfortable as it ought to be for me. After five years, the experience was not something to be proud. A man came to Cameroon and saw me in that house and the condition I was living in and he came back to Nigeria to tell my elder brother that I was better off dead than the condition he saw me in.

    What did your brother do?

    My brother came to Cameroon and brought me back to Nigeria. But being a student who studied two weeks and take two weeks off to hustle to fend for himself, my brother couldn’t do much for me. He gave me out also to learn carpentry and from there I started another phase of experience sleeping on the carpentry table. That was where I slept for four years and seven months.

    Going through these backgrounds and having to stop my education in primary four because there was nobody to train me and never gone to any other school when I came out from that experience I knew I had to do something for those in similar condition. God showed me mercy and appeared to me on the 27 September 1983 where I was sleeping in that workshop. I always cried myself to sleep because I would remember that my predicament began when I lost my mum. Crying to bed became a part of my life.

    So, on one of those nights, the lord appeared to me and the atmosphere became so bright and the lord called me while I was still crying in the dark and said ‘wipe your tears, work with me and I will transform you and use you for My glory.’  That was the genesis and transformation of my life.  When I got up I realised that I had this inward joy. I started attending Christian Pentecostal Mission and DeeperLife. During the week I go to DeeperLife – it was not a church then it was just a ministry – and on Sunday I go to CPM. My life started experiencing some enlightenment when I started reading the scripture. It is not only going through the university that God brings the best out of you, God can do that.

    What follows?

    After the experience, I went to Redeemed Bible College; then Papa (Enoch) Adeboye was one of the lecturers and he was teaching on Divine Healing. We were there for nine months. The Redemption Camp was a forest; the only thing there was the school camp and the bible school was like a kiosk. We were asked to pull down trees as lesson for coming late, tsetse fly and snakes were all over the place. It was where we went and had transformation. It was an environment that gave you time to think about what Christ came to do.

    With this background, God has helped me to be who I am today. One thing I will never forget is the experience of not having someone to assist me. My not having a school certificate, degree or Phd today is a reminder of what it means to not have help. It is not as if I can’t get those degrees today now, but I want it as a reminder of the pains of not having someone to cater for me.

    There are many people Nigerian children across the country in the homes and services of wealthy Nigerian politicians, businessmen who cannot afford money to pay school fees or write exam. Not forgetting that, I made up my mind that if I would live one day one earth, it will be dedicated to those who are in my shoe. That was how Arm of Hope came about – to extend arm of hope to people who think hope is far away from them.

    Tell us about the foundation and what you have done with it

    Arm of Hope is a brainchild of my wife, Mrs. Lilly Ogu, and me. We feel that the church should not just be a place where you tell people what to do and what not to do. If we use Christ as example, he not only taught, he fed the people, he gave, put his life into jeopardy for the benefit of the world. We saw a combination of teaching and giving which is the bedrock of the teaching of Christ. That is what Christianity is all about; you should love to the detriment of your comfort.

    Putting that into our NGO, we travelled to places to see where there are needs. I remember travelling to Maiduguri, during the 18 February crisis, where 54 churches were burnt and 68 persons burnt to death, including one reverend father. I put myself in the shoe of those people as a pastor and a human being. What if one of the victims was my brother, sister or mother? I went there and visited all the 54 churches, I had photographs, I saw the devastation and destruction. I met one Mrs. Hannatu whose five children were burnt, I met one Effiong who lost his wife and three children and another Mr Obodo whose wife and children were burnt.

    From there, we started giving assistance. We met over 3,000 victim of that crisis. We had to get them money to cushion the effect of their losses. The least we gave was N25,000; some went home with N50,000 and others with N100,000 and so on. We also gave each of the five CAN family money and check to look into what is happening to their members. Some we gave money to rent houses, start their businesses and so on.

    We also went to Plateau State, to Jos and Dogo Nahauwa, where 365 persons were killed. It was shocking to find out that although the report was in the news after the incident no NGO or government agency thought it wise to go back to the community to find out about the plights of the victims and their families. We went there before the burial and during the mass burials were went there and promised them a school in memory of the victims. We offered scholarship to all children who lost their families; treated others. I brought one of the victims who lost both families here (Port Harcourt) and he is currently living with me. Daniel is his name and he is currently in school. We invited all the widows here and they stayed here for some time before returning home. When going back we gave them some money to help them start afresh. We made sure we also dug boreholes for communities because we realised that the problem sometimes start when they meet the cattle herdsmen in the pounds when they take their cattle for water. That is why we dug boreholes.

    We also did not just make promises, we are happy to report that the first secondary school in Dogo Nahauwa called Arm of Hope Memorial Grammar School, where all the victims of the massacre will attend school free, have been built. We have put everything in place; we have teachers employed and we will commence the school at the end of the month (September).

    We have also provided boreholes in some communities in Imo State, 10 in 10 different communities in Oboho and anywhere we do borehole we give them generators. In Port Harcourt we have done nine in Obio-Akpor and given nine generators also in Etche. In a town in Mangu, Plateau state we have also done boreholes, this is place where people are living without water or light. When you see these things, you wonder if we really have government in this country for people to be living as they live.

    In what other areas have you intervened?

    We have given subventions to patients in the hospitals. When you go to most Nigerian hospitals you will realise that most of the patients there have been treated for surgical operations, amputation etc. Some of them have been treated and ready to be discharged but the bills are so high that they cannot be allowed to leave – they are being held hostage by medical bills. I think Federal and state governments should have a way, a form of Ministry Of Social Welfare to see how they can bring succour to such people. When you see the psychological effect their circumstances create on them, you begin to wonder what kind of country we live in. When we find out these situations, we pay their hospital bills, take them home and give them money to start something with. In some cases we give their children scholarship and these are ongoing.

    We also have scholarships for the children of widows that we have encountered from all churches, different states and places. What qualifies them is that their mothers are widows. We have over 720 students on our scholarship.

    We also provide legal aids to Nigerians who are falsely accused and are forgotten in prison custody. We have a couple of them in Rivers state here where as a result of reported armed robbery or kidnap, police comes around and do what is called mass arrest. When they get 20 or 40 persons, those arrested are made to pay money for bail. Even the so-called criminals pay the money and are allowed to go, but the innocent ones are made to suffer. They are charged on these alleged crimes and remanded in prison custody and left there for up to two years. We have a lot of them that we have been able to help through our legal departments. So far, we have freed about 11 such persons. We not only bring them out, we give them money to start business because some of them who had jobs during the ordeals lost them.

    We also provided succour to over 1,000 widows wherever we go – churches, crusades and community development projects. In one of the states we are building hall, we ask for widows and they turn up. Some of them just need N500 to buy things to sell.  Sometimes you give N1,000 to hundreds of widows to start something and you see them being so happy. You will realise that some Nigerians don’t need millions to get by, just a few thousand naira and they are set up.

    How do you indentify beneficiaries of some of these gestures and how do you ensure that people you assist are widows?

    As a preacher, I am invited everywhere to preach. When I get to these venues, after preaching I ask for the widows so I can pray for them. In these communities people know each other; no woman whose husband is alive would step forward to receive a widow’s prayer. From there we separate those who have jobs for prayer to God to help them get promotion. Then we put aside those who don’t have job. Then we ask children of the widows who are standing there to join their mothers. Again from there we ask those who are in school to step aside for prayers and so on. We ask the students to fill forms and their school names, department and so on. From there we get their information. We go to the schools to investigate and for some of them you will be surprised to find out that they have not paid their fees for the previous terms. So we pay the fees and just send them text messages that their fees have been paid and they are henceforth on our scholarship. Their reactions and joy are usually priceless; the joy and outpour of emotions gives us satisfaction.

    How do you sustain some of these projects, like the boreholes and generators?

    What we do like in some communities in Rivers State is we give them (beneficiaries) money and we asked the communities to take charge, not individuals. In the northern part, you don’t use generators it is the manual type. However, in Jos we have an engineer who we pay to go around checking so when there is a breakdown, he fixes it. We also have an office with staff in Jos. Some of the villages we hand over the generators to the royal fathers and we ask them to call us whenever they have problems.

    How much have you spent on these gesture so far?

    Arm of Hope for the past 14 years has been operating before it was officially incorporated about two years ago. I can’t tell you the total because we were operating without any record we just did what we did before it was incorporated as an NGO. I can tell you though that we have spent no less than N300m. You can imagine giving over 3,000 N25,000 each in Maiduguri and some go with N200,000. I was in Jigawa, Kano etc. This is the debt I owe to the society and to God for making me who I am today.

    What is the source of your fund?

    One, from the offerings we get from the church, ALEM (Abundant Life Evangelic Ministry) we have supported our project. I also own a company set up for charity, all the proceeds from that company go into humanitarian work.

     

  • The agony called East/West Road

    The agony called East/West Road

    No road in Nigeria has grabbed as much media attention in recent times as the East/West highway, except may be the equally as deplorable Lagos-Ibadan highway. This strategic highway linking Benin to Calabar, through Warri, Port Harcourt and Uyo, has been the subject of debate and controversy. It’s dualisation was given by the dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) as a condition for peace.

    The road was the focus of debate and unbridled anger again on Monday when thousands of travellers, including international guests from Ghana and other parts of the world, were stranded at a failed portion of the road for several hours. The foreigners who were attending the Environment Summit organised by a Niger Delta group, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), were locked down there for over three hours, despite being escorted by a long military convoy.

    The journey from Benin City to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital was not supposed to take longer than two hours. But, they spent hours at a short distance from Umeh Junction (before Patani) to Patani Bridge. The cocoon of comfort provided by the air-conditioned vehicles they rode in was not enough to hide their frustration.

    Still, they were luckier than hundreds of other stranded users of the road who had to trudge for kilometres to get pass the failed portion before taking another vehicle to their destinations within and outside the region.

    The scene was like the flood disaster of 2012 all over again when that area of the road and communities therein were cut off from other parts of the country for several weeks.

    Mr. Eghosa Osayande, a civil engineer who works for a German construction giant, told our reporter he left Port Harcourt before the break of dawn on that Monday morning. “I thought I would get to Warri before 9am to resume work.”

    His timing was perfect until he got to Patani at 7:24am. Three hours later, he was forced to make the long trek pass Umeh Junction before getting a vehicle to Ughelli and later to Warri. It was past 2pm when he got to the office.

    The most unfortunate victims were those who drove their cars and were forced to wait, until the road was ‘fixed’ and opened to traffic at snail-speed several hours later.

    “Look at me,” one of the stranded motorists told our reporter at the scene, “I left Port Harcourt this morning for a 2pm meeting in Benin City. I felt that I could get there by latest 11am and attend to some businesses before the engagement began. Here I am at 5pm; I don’t even know when I will get to Benin. The meeting is over already and I can’t go forward or backward.”

    The East/West Road has been a sore spot for people of the Niger Delta, particularly because it leads to the home state of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The knotty gridlock started around the Bomadi Junction, which leads to the home town of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, whose ministry is handling the road construction. Orubebe has assured Nigerians that the road would be completed by December 2014, but with the level of progress so far, it is hard to see how that target can be realised.

    Speaking on the fate of the delegate to its seminar on Tuesday morning, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, the National Coordinator of CEPEJ, described it as shameful.

    He said: “It is a failure on the part of government and agency responsible for the road. It is a bigger failure on the part of the Federal Government, which has failed to put the road in order after all these years. If the road is in place, this development would be have been avoided.”

    Mulade lamented the negative experience and distress of the guests who arrived Yenagoa several hours after their expected arrival time. He urged the Federal Government and the ministry to put pressure on the contractor, Setraco Nigeria Limited, to increase the speed of work and save Nigerians endless hours wasted on the road.

    Eyewitnesses at the scene told our reporter that Monday’s gridlock on the strategic road was caused by a failed section of the road at the Agoloma Junction section of the road on Monday. Residents of the area said the perennially troubled spot had gradually deteriorated over the past few weeks before it finally collapsed on Sunday night.

    “We expected that the contractors which official constantly pass through the road should have seen it and done palliative repair before it finally divided the road into two halves yesterday (Monday). But it is the usually Nigerian culture of waiting until it becomes too bad before doing anything about it,” a community leader from Ohore, who was also caught up at the jam, told our reporter.

    Some of the affected travellers, who spoke with Niger Delta Report, expressed dissatisfaction with the pace and strategy adopted by Setraco. They lamented the company’s perceived haphazard schedule on the road.

    “They will start work on a particular point and without completing it, they would jump to another section, leaving the first place worse than them met it. Also, you would expect that they would fix an alternative route for motorists before opening up a particular spot. But they don’t do that, they just carry on with their job leading to severe hold-ups on several points along the road,” a driver of one of the transport lines that frequent the route said.

    According to the driver who asked that neither his name nor his employer’s be used in this report, is that while hapless travellers are stranded on the road, Setraco officials cruise through, driving against traffic at breakneck speed because of the intimidating presence of large detachment security operatives, including soldiers and mobile policemen, attached to them. The security operatives randomly molest travellers who cross their path.

    “May be if they pass through the same road, and go through the same waste of time as travellers and motorists face on the road they would see the need to plan their work in a way that it will have minimal effect on movement on the road,” the driver added.

    It is not only Setraco’s mode of operation on the road that has elicited anger. Our checks revealed that motorists and locals along the busy highway blame the company’s perceived lack of concern to safety for some of the ghastly accidents that occur on the road on daily basis.

    Our findings revealed that several dangerous gullies and drains are opened by the company without caution signs to alert drivers on the dangers ahead of them. In one of the locations before Yenagoa junction in Bayelsa State, our reporter saw huge pits opened up by the company’s excavation andn dredging operation.

    It was also gathered that until recently the Agbarho bridge in Ughelli, Delta State was a notorious accident spot for several months before the community deployed beacons at the entrance to the bridge.

    A newspaper sales representative in Warri said vehicles randomly “flew” into the river before the community leaders deployed drums to an opening between the onward and outward bridges a few months ago.

    The son of a traditional ruler in Patani (Delta) and two other persons were crushed to death on Saturday 21 September, when his Toyota Highlander Sports-Utility Vehicle (SUV) crashed into one of the concrete barrier placed on the road around Evwreni Community in Ughelli.

    Such pitfalls along the road makes it one of the most dangerous road in the country with dozens of accidents and deaths recorded on a daily basis.

    By Tuesday afternoon, the road had been partially restored. But, for how long it remains passable before another blockade is anybody’s guess.

     

  • Kid writer wants scholarship for Niger Delta talents

    Kid writer wants scholarship for Niger Delta talents

    A young writer and aspiring author, Miss Mercy Nmachukwu Mere has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to consider the plights of talented children whose talents may die because of lack of inspiration in Niger Delta region.

    She pleaded with the President to set machinery in place to identify such talents in order to award scholarships and provide other incentives to them.

    The Imo State-born Mere made the call shortly after her nomination, along with two others, to represent the African Youths for Democratic Movement in the forthcoming children writing contest in Ghana.

    The 11-year-old Mere, who presented her previous works, which mostly dwelled on kids upbringing, got the nods of the judges for the contest.

    Speaking with Niger Delta Report after her nomination at MicDon Hotel Port Harcourt, the JSS-2 student of Randolph Secondary Port Harcourt, was ecstatic. She said she did not expect to be nominated considering her background and the works of other children.

    She said something urgent must be done by the government to ensure that young talents were not allowed to go to waste on the street, adding that 90 per cent of children of the poor have no confidence of becoming something in future.

    “I have an unpublished work entitled: The future of the Nigerian Kid. We are suffering; the government should come to our aid. I want the President to award scholarship to talented children in Niger Delta.

    “Nigerian children are happy that our father is the president of this country; we want the wife of the President who is our mother to push our problem before the president and if possible add it during his independence speech.

    “I am very happy today for being nominated among 55 children who came to this programme. It is a great privilege and an opportunity to thank my parents. I want to, especially, thank AYDM for sponsoring this event and I promise to represent Niger Delta very well.”

    Some of her unpublished works include: The Reward of Good and Evil; Nkechi and Her Wicked Life; The Kind Princess and Bad Mother, which was well-received by the guests.

     

     

  • We are against Jonathan’s, Tukur’s impunity, says Bayelsa New PDP chair Kpodo

    Why are you promoting new PDP in Bayelsa State?

    New PDP is also PDP. We have freedom of expression to join any group. The PDP headed by Bamanga Tukur is tilted because of the impunity and injustice promoted by Tukur. We believe that it is the right decision and that is why we joined. I am the Chairman of the new PDP in Bayelsa State.

    The new PDP is clearly against Jonathan who is your kinsman, why are you joining opposition against him?

    No. There is no opposition because this is a party affair. We are not against him. We are against impunity. We are against the destruction of the party. They are destroying the party. The truth has to be spoken without minding whether Jonathan is from Bayelsa State or from the Niger Delta region. Even, people from the north are also supporting him. We have freedom of expression and freedom of association. So, we are not attacking him. We are not fighting him. We are fighting injustice.

    You are believed within government quarters and police to be a few disgruntled elements fighting the cause of the former governor of the state, how would you react to that?

    When they are talking about disgruntled elements, they are the disgruntled elements. After all, where does he come from? Was INEC in the primary that brought him in as the governor? Since he came in he has been ruling the state with impunity. He has been ruling the state as if the people of the state are animals. Has he ever stayed in the state for up to one month? We are Bayelsans and we are from the Ijaw tribe and we stand by the truth. We believe that what the Baraje group is doing is the truth and that is why we support them.

    Are you saying that you are not fighting the cause of your former principal in the name of the new PDP?

    What we are saying is that we are fighting the cause of PDP. They are supposed to say that l am a loyalist of Sylva because l worked for the man last as a Special Adviser on Security Issues. Let me also remind them that I was one time the Director of Operation, Centre of Youth Development in Alameiseigha’s regime. I was the Special Assistant on Strategy and Policy Monitoring in Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Yes, Sylva had a case. He had to fight for his right because he was forcefully removed from the government. What we are saying is that Bayelsa State belongs to all of us and we have the right to support whoever.

    The body language of the police and the government is that they won’t allow the new PDP to exist in Bayelsa.

    Yes. They won’t. I don’t know what the business of the police is. We are talking about democracy. We are talking about politics. Police should be neutral in issues of politics. What they are doing in Bayelsa State is appalling. It is disgraceful. In national level, the new PDP exists and nobody has been arrested. Why should Bayelsa be different? In other places, they only go to close their secretariats. But they have not arrested anybody.

    Is it because the President is from here? So, everybody in the state must bow because the President is from here. It is wrong. What has Bayelsa State benefitted for having the President? What shows that we have the President to start with? Let us be sincere, how many Bayelsans has he given appointments to? All the appointments they are giving are from their tribe. Who is deceiving who? We are all Bayelsans and we believe that we will say the truth at any given time.

    People are accusing you of fighting for recognition. They believe that once the government gives you an appointment, you will abandon your cause.

    I am sorry. I am not that kind of a person. They know it and they cannot even approach me for any appointment. I am not that type of cheap material you can buy over. I believe in a cause and l fight it to the end. I am a rugged fighter. I don’t believe in sentiments and l don’t believe in what I gain for fighting. They know this. I came into Byaelsa State and I have been here doing my business. I don’t even care about them.

    What l care about is the suffering of my people. I found out that even the party in the state is redundant. They can’t even check the governor. Everybody is just like a slave. Nobody is begging anybody for anything and l cannot be included in that type of a system because l know that the system will collapse. As far as this group is concerned, we believe in justice and fair play.

    This is democracy where you have freedom of speech, freedom of expression and association. Look at the civil servants today, are they living in peace? You cut off almost 30 per cent of their salary. How can they cope and what are you using the money for? You say you saved N20 billion. In which bank? You gave jobs out to foreign firms, how will the Bayelsans benefit? The lump money you pay to them is taken out of the state. How will money circulate?

    How widespread are the members of the new PDP in the state?

    Already, we are the majority. We are more than 80 per cent of Bayelsans now. It is because of the fear of harassment and intimidation that made a lot of people to be quiet. Democracy is a game of number. Why are you afraid? Give the new PDP a small breathing space. Stop intimidating and harassing them and then you will see exactly what is on ground. They will see that we outnumber them. People are working underground and at the end you will see that they don’t even have followers even in their government.

    How much have the police harassed your members?

    They have been harassing them day and night even intimidating their families. Is the police, the spokesman for the old PDP? Are they now the mouthpiece? What is the role of the police in the political struggle? The harassment is too barbaric. They are even toeing the path of assassination. Even as I am talking to you, they are planning to plant arms and ammunition in some areas of our businesses and accuse us of complicity. They are also planning bomb explosions to accuse us of being masterminds. What is the business of the police?

    Is it true that most of your members are on the run, they can’t even stay in the state?

    No. It is not true. Most of them are in the state. They are only keeping quiet. We are watching them and observing what they are doing. We are also doing our own work.

    Are you still determined to open the secretariat of the new PDP in the state?

    Yes. But it depends on the development. We are still monitoring the situation. We are taking our time. Definitely our office will open. They should allow the new PDP to exercise their fundamental human rights. The government of Bayelsa State is found wanting because of the ongoing impunity. The man is simply assuaging his family. Only his family members are enjoying his government. From the deputy governor downwards, l can tell you that they are not at peace with him. People have been marginalised in the system. Every business has been crippled. People cannot afford to pay their children’s school fees. They should allow a level-playing field. Allow room for criticism so that you can learn.

  • Why I withdrew from senatorial race, by Agoda

    Why I withdrew from senatorial race, by Agoda

    A former member of the Federal House of Representatives and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial aspirant for the October 5 Delta Central by-election, Halims Agoda, has vowed to support the consensus candidate of the party.

    He said as a party stalwart, he was bound by the decisions of the party both at the state and federal levels, vowing to massively support any candidate the party would present for the election.

    Agoda, a three-term federal legislator representing Ethiope Federal Constituency on the platform of PDP, made the declaration while addressing his supporters and some PDP leaders from the eight local government areas of the central at his country home in Jesse, Ethiope West Local Government Area.

    He said his withdrawal from the race had nothing to do with his competence for the task, but as a result of his respect for the decision reached by organs of the party.

    He revealed that his decision was formed by series of meeting and consultations with Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and leaders of the party who prevailed on him to work with a consensus candidate from Ughelli Federal constituency to complete the tenure of late Senator Pius Ewherido.

    Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido, who died on June 30 at the National Hospital Abuja, hails from Ughelli South Local Government Area.

    Agoda said: “For the election of the senate that is coming up next month, I participated actively, but the we (aspirants) have been addressed that Ughelli/Udu Federal Constituency where our son, Senator Ewherido (who has gone to the great beyond) comes from to have their tenure completed.

    “And such decision taken by the party I will respect it. I have given my firm commitment to the party that I will work for whosoever the candidate may be.

    “Whosoever the party might present, we will work for that person. Whoever the governor of this state and federal government shall present we would all work for that person, because we know the party will put down a credible person. So, on behalf of my people; I am pledging that we will deliver that person when the time comes.”

    “We would not want the election to be tensed, but we should be able to explain to people what the PDP-led government at local, state and federal government levels have done in the past and what is on the pipe line for the people. From now till the election time, I am going to be here to support the party’s candidate. We will work together as one big party and as a family,” he promised.

     

     

  • Delta battles truancy in schools with Edu-Marshals

    Delta battles truancy in schools with Edu-Marshals

    Besides kidnappings and bunkering, one major problem facing Delta State is truancy by school pupils. No wonder, the government recently launched its Edu-Marshal (DEM) programme to curb the trend. To underscore the premium it places on the initiative, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan chairs the steering committee on the implementation of the programme .

    Uduaghan said the programme was designed to consolidate the developments in the education sector, especially through its free education programme and other initiatives. He said the statistics of out-of-school-children were between 8-14 percent of the total population of children in school.

    He said his administration has analysed reasons for the scourge of truancy, noting that reasons like inadequate classrooms, cultural, traditional and financial issues were untenable.

    He said his administration would tackle these issues. “We have tried to deal with some of the reasons. We have tried to rebuild our schools, build new ones; we are still in the process of rehabilitating and building. We have tried to recruit new teachers as many as possible, very soon we shall employ more .We have tried to produce the conducive environment for our children to have quality education. We have tried to improve on the income of parents by setting up our micro-credit scheme which has gone down to the rural populace. We also discovered at a time that when we give this money for micro-credit scheme parents use the money to pay school fees. So, we have also tried to stop that by ensuring that there is no payment of school fees or levies to at least up to secondary school level. Beyond that we have initiated a lot of scholarship schemes, even automatic scholarship to 1st class graduates; all these are some of the things we have done to make it possible for our children to go to school.”

    Notwithstanding advances made by his administration in the educational sector in the State, Uduaghan noted that daunting challenges still exist.

    He commended efforts by traditional rulers of rural communities at rebuilding schools affected by flood last year and urged them not to relent in their efforts.

    Uduaghan warned that parents of children found outside school hours will be prosecuted.

    But, can the education marshals rise up to the challenge of eradicating street culture and entrench learning culture among youths in the State?

    How effective will the education marshals be in helping government achieve its targets of reducing out-of-school children?

    With over 1,206 primary and 346 secondary schools spread across the 25 local government areas of the state, will the 100 marshals employed simply not get swamped by the sheer number of schools it has to police?

    Uduaghan said the focus for the first three months would be aimed at counselling and educating the public on the dangers of out-of-school children.

    Similarly, sceptics have wondered what criteria will government use in measuring the success of the programme? Will the vulnerable urban poor hard hit by the parlous economy take heed, mend their ways and desist from sending their children to work?

    Some parents have cited gross abuse of the free education policy by some school heads. But, to the credit of the Uduaghan administration, school heads found wanting have been sanctioned with some demoted to serve as classroom teachers.

    The initiative may yet succeed if all stakeholders join hands with government to make it work.

    Some communities have taken the lead in this regard. Okpe community runs a similar initiative. The Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, Major-General Felix Mujakperuo (rtd) while sharing his experience, revealed that the policy was in its second year in the kingdom.

    He said committees were formed at the highest decision making body of the community (Odogun), down to the district and village levels.

    According to the Okpe monarch, these various committees are charged with the responsibility of reporting truancy among erring children and teachers to the appropriate authority.

    But the monarch, however, regretted that the strategy in his domain has not worked effectively due to lapses at the village committee levels, which have failed to enforce the policy.

    It remains to be seen how it works out at the state level.

  • Bayelsa community in disarray over kingship tussle

    Fear has enveloped Agrisaba, a rural community in Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, after the September 13 violence that erupted in the area.

    Thugs invaded a meeting organised by the community’s council of chiefs and in what many people described as desecration of tradition, descended on the traditional rulers with blows, horse whips and other weapons. They created panic in the community.

    Desperate to save their lives, the community’s Regent, Chief Sampson Awudulu and other chiefs abandoned the assembly and ran to different directions for safety. While some ran to Yenagoa, others fled to Port Harcourt in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    In fact, there is no doubt that things have fallen apart in a fishing and farming Agrisaba, which is under the Mini-Ikensi Rural Development Authority. Some persons have traced the trouble in the community to crude oil.

    They argued that before crude oil was struck in commercial quantity in the community by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, the area which was administered by a king and his council of chiefs was known for its peace and quietness.

    Nothing was known about its kingship and political transition. No outsider including the state government was interested in the affairs of the community.

    But, oil and its gains have changed the story of Agrisaba. The once peaceful community had gradually descended to chaos. The kingship stool has surprisingly become a cash cow. All eyes are now on the stool and the government appears to have developed much interest in the leadership of the community.

    The recent lingering controversies started with the emergence of a new king in the community. After many months of politicking and maneuvering that allegedly bore the stamp of the office of the deputy governor of he state, one Means Samuel Walter was declared the king of the community.

    But the Agrisaba Council of Chiefs, a body with constitutional powers of a kingmaker, disagreed with the process that enthroned Walter. They believe that like a house with a weak foundation, Walter’s rule will not stand the test of time. The opposing chiefs will not address Walter as their king.

    Initially, 15 out of the 18 members of the council including Awudulu, have maintained that the king was imposed on the community by the state government. They claimed that the promoters of the new king abandoned the community’s tradition and constitution to foist their preferred candidate on the rural people.

    Shortly after he was crowned the king, Walter asked the unhappy chiefs to take their case to the court insisting that he emerged through the laid down procedure and tradition.

    But, aggrieved chiefs had through many documents and letters, including litigation tried in vain to stop the election. They have not relented even after Walter was crowned a king. They are still fighting a cause they believe in. In fact, they had gone back to the court. On September 13, they met in the community.

    Awudulu told Niger Delta Report why they decided to meet despite the tension in the community. He said: “The constitution and tradition required the holding of meeting quarterly by members in the community.”

    But, he claimed that they scheduled the meeting after notifying the police and the Joint Task Force (JTF) codenamed Operation Pulo Shield. He said the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hillary Opara, approved the meeting and deployed 15 mobile policemen in the area.

    The regent, however, lamented that the police disappeared from the area when the hooligans stormed their meeting. He accused the police of conspiracy and said one of their injured chiefs, Denis Otiotio Odoni was arrested by the police after the incident.

    He raised the alarm that their “lives are in danger”. He appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to intervene and rescue them from alleged gang-up between the police in the state and some agents of the state government.

    He said: “We the members of the council of chiefs wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police for permission and protection during the meeting based on our desire to maintained law and order.

    “The Commissioner of Police graciously granted the approval of the meeting and deployed 15 mobile police men to the community. The JTF commandant in charge of Nembe was also notified and deployed his men to the community.

    “It is sad and worrisome that the police men ran away with the speedboat abandoning their responsibility to maintain law and order. The chiefs were attacked in the presence of the police without them intervening.

    “The chiefs and some of the youths were injured and, to be specific, Chief Denis Otiotio Odoni and Chief William Beredugo Ginah were injured during the attack.

    “Is the Bayelsa state police command meant to be used to settle traditional and political difference in the state?

    “We the council of chiefs wish to inform the general public that the same police commissioner that deployed the policemen and also gave approval has arrested Chief Odoni , a victim of the attack. He has been detained based on spurious allegation that he and the chiefs were setting up a new PDP.

    “This is part of the orchestrated effort to pitch the chiefs against the President and the governor. Let us state for record purpose that the Chief Awudul is the assistant publicity secretary of the party in the state and participated actively in the press briefing by the party executive held on the 12th of September 2013 to dispel the story making round that there is a splinter group of PDP in the state of Bayelsa.

    “We condemn the action of the police and demand the immediate and unconditional release of the Chief Odoni which health is deteriorating as a result of the pains and injury he sustained and the inhuman condition he is been subjected to.

    “The Bayelsa State Police Command has persistently and consistently refused to grant him bail since Friday that he was arrested. The Bayelsa police command has no right to detain a citizen of Nigeria for an alleged offence that is bailable.”

    But, Opara told the chiefs not to involve the police in chieftaincy tussle, adding that the police only intervened to maintain law and order in the community.

    “The police are not kingmakers. There is already a king in the community and if they don’t like the process that brought him to power, they should go to court and challenge him.

    “Why are they directing their efforts to the police? We didn’t ask them to go there and fight. They shouldn’t drag us into chieftaincy tussle,”he said.

    He said persons involved in the fracas had been identified and arrested. He added that Odoni was among the suspects arrested, adding that the police had filed a matter in the court against them.

    He said the 15 policemen who were deployed in the community were sourced illegally by the chiefs adding that the command had commenced disciplinary action against the policemen.

    He said: “Those who were involved in the fracas have been arrested and charged to court. The case has been filed in the court and the court will serve him.

    “When the crisis started and the king there inaugurated, I was not there. The chiefs collected the policemen somewhere in Yenagoa here. Those policemen are in trouble and we are already taking disciplinary action against them.”

     

  • Girl, 18, in critical condition after gunmen’s rampage in Amaechi’s town

    The carnage unleashed on Ubima Community on that fateful May day claimed the lives of two persons – Temple Amadi and Michael Udoh. Although he was lucky to survive the shooting, Iheanyi Ohahuru is in critical condition and has father has cried out for financial assistance to enable him get the much needed treatment and medication.

    Narrating his ordeal, his father, Mr. Yakubu Ohahuru said the gunmen stormed the community at about 8:30pm on May 4th and unleashed mayhem on his son and other victims. The ‘sin’ of the young man was that he was sitting in front of his father’s house in Ubima, which is fast becoming a hotbed of crimes in the state.

    At the time of this report on Monday, Iheanyi was at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) where doctors are battling to save his life. But his father said he doesn’t know for how long he would continue to get medical attention as the family had run out of money to buy drugs.

    His medical records indicated that Iheanyi’s bladder was badly damaged by bullet. He is now forced to urinate through supportive pipe. His legs were also shattered by bullets and there are concerns that he may never walk again unless help comes his way really fast.

    When Niger Delta Report visited him at the UPTH he had emaciated and his father said the family had spent all the money they saved – over N500,000 to take care of his medical bills. Yakubu said he could no longer afford to pay the bill.

    He said, “My son was sitting in the front of my house when the gunmen entered the community around 8pm and shot two persons to death with many others wounded. I was surprised when I saw my son seriously bleeding on the floor that was after we heard gunshot. The condition we met him that day before we rushed him to the hospital was critical. We didn’t think he would survive it considering the quantity of blood that went out of him.”

    The other victims of the sporadic shooting, identified as Temple Amadi and Michael Udoh, have since been buried.

    But for the Ohahurus, the joy of their child’s survival is gradually turning into a nightmare.

    His father, in a hearty appeal, said, “I need help; I want well meaning Nigerian to assist my son so that the doctors can continue to give him treatment. We have spent more than half a million. The native bone doctor who was suppose to be massaging his bone left because the money we agreed with him was not favourable to him. His (native doctor’s) work is important now because the bullet also hit him on his two legs.”

    Ohahuru’s kinsman, who is also a human rights lawyer, Mr. Chigozi Ikpe-Orlu Orlu, slammed the state government for neglecting the lucky man and his son. He blamed the family’s predicament on porous security in the community and other parts of the state.

    He said: “The security of life and property is in the hand of government; the innocent boy was not fighting anybody or stealing when he was shot. But he is in the condition he is today because the government has failed to live up to its responsibility. You can imagine how gunmen will enter a community and start shooting everybody. That means the security officers posted to that area failed to do their job. I am calling on government of Rivers State to show a great concern by coming to his aid. He is entitled to be protected as a citizen of this country.”