Category: South East

Niger-Delta ex-militants, under the umbrella of Urhobo-Isoko Youth Wing and ex-agitator leaders of the phase 1, 2 and 3 of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), yesterday petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Col. Milland Dixon Dikio, the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), over alleged marginalisation.

The Urhobo-Isoko ex-militants youth wing and ex-agitator leaders, who spoke to reporters through their Chairman, Gen. Joseph Figbele; Vice Chairman, Gen. Solomon Adu and Gen. Abraham Ekokotu, decried the alleged continuous exclusion of Urhobo/Isoko ex-agitators from the amnesty programmes held in Nigeria and in the diaspora.

The group lamented that several programmes had come up that had benefitted other amnesty ex-militants and ex-agitators without recourse to the plight of the Urhobo/Isoko ex-militants youth wing and ex-agitator leaders in the region.

It said the amnesty programme was created to better the lives of the youth of the Niger Delta.

Hundreds of youths, women and men of Olugbobiri kingdom in Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State have paralysed communities over alleged government and oil companies’ neglect and insensitivity to their plight.

The protesters trooped out yesterday to occupy strategic places in some communities that make up the Olugbobiri clan.

They ensured that commercial activities were halted to send a strong message to the relevant authorities about their backwardness, stagnation and lack of amenities due to environmental degradation allegedly perpetrated by oil companies as well as government’s nonchalance to their well-being.

The demonstrators, who chanted solidarity songs as they marched from one community to the other, expressed displeasure about lack of development in the area since the discovery and beginning of oil exploration in the kingdom in 1973.

They claimed that there was no tangible development and basic social amenities to show for, as oil bearing area, lamenting the absence of good health facilities, standard schools, power supply, among others.

The protesters vowed that they would not stop the protest until the relevant authorities addressed the injustices done to them such as total neglect of the kingdom by the government, environmental degradation and oil pollution by oil companies, resulting in deprivation of their means of livelihood, poverty and hunger.

Speaking during the demonstration,  a female protester, Ebiere Abel, complained that the women from the kingdom were being neglected by the government.

She said:  “We are suffering in this kingdom. It appears as if we are left to die. Nothing is happening. No amenities, nothing to write home about. Our means of livelihood have been badly affected and nobody is doing anything to help us.”

Another leader of the protest, Teide Wakaman, attributed the underdevelopment of Olugbobiri kingdom to selfish leaders, who were willing to keep the people in darkness and in bondage just to amass wealth for themselves and their families.

The apex socio-cultural organisation in Ogoni ethnic nationality, Rivers State, KAGOTE, has warned Ogoniland residents against vandalising projects executed by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).

It gave the warning yesterday when its executive committee members led by the Vice-President, Priscilia Vikue, visited the acting Coordinator, HYPREP, Prof. Phil ter. They are still building the tanks at Bori, Kparakpor and B menace in Rivers.

Vikue enjoined the sons and daughters of Ogoni to protect all projects in their domains and avoid any action capable of jeopardising them.

She said: “We want to take this opportunity to plead with our Ogoni sons and daughters that they should stop vandalising the equipment provided by the government.”

The Leader of the 7th Senate, Dr. Victor Ndoma-Egba, has supported the newly elected Executive Council (exco) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, led by Mr. Alphonsus Eba.

Addressing members in Calabar, Ndoma-Egba, the former board chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), dispelled insinuations and social media talks of a non-existing parallel APC exco in Cross River.

He said: “It is constitutional to publish the time, date and venue for party congresses before the set date. Anything short of these is a nullity.”

Ndoma-Egba advised those parading and alleging parallel exco in the state to refrain from such illegal engagements, as it would not do them any good.

He said the public should disregard any purported list of party exco members other than the Eba-led exco.

Ndoma-Egba, SAN, who was also the chairman of the zoning committee in the state, advised the newly-elected party officials to be focused in building a more formidable party.

He congratulated Eba and his team on their emergence and thanked Governor Ben Ayade for his leadership of the party.

He also commended other stakeholders, whose contributions and support led to the success recorded in the congress.

Eba said Ayade had instructed him to unite the party.

As part of measures to curtail sea piracy, kidnapping and other criminal activities, Bayelsa State Government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on its waterways.

Governor Duoye Diri, who announced the measure at the end of the 12th state security council meeting at the Government House, Yenagoa, said the curfew, which takes immediate effect, is between 7pm and 6am.

He also announced a ban on the use of 200-hp speed boats.

Briefing reporters on the outcome of the meeting, the Special Adviser on Security Matters 1, Mr. Akpoebi Agberebi, said, henceforth, no permit would be issued for the use of 200-hp engines, warning that violators would face the full wrath of the law.

He, however, said that there would be concessions for emergency movement, during the curfew hours, while calling on Bayelsa people to feel free to report violators to the state security outfit, ‘Operation Doo-Akpo’, on its dedicated phone line 07006464644.

Agberebi said that the council resolved that communities, whose lands had been acquired by the state government, should desist from any form of protests.

He said some communities, still parading themselves as landlords, had been constituting a nuisance by taking the law into their hands and depriving other citizens their freedom of movement.

Governor Diri hoped that the newly posted Commissioner of Police to the state, CP Benjamin Okolo, would add value to Bayelsa by curbing crime.

He enjoined the new police boss to synergise, collaborate and partner  sister security agencies, and the state in particular, to achieve zero tolerance for crime.

The Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE) is to begin remediation work on a crude oil impacted site at Obi-Ayagha community in Ughelli South Local Government of Delta State.

FUPRE, in conjunction with the Foundation for Conservation of Nigerian Rivers (FCNR), has set up Integrated Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), in the university, to pursue environmental remedial research and training through a Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Research and Training Centre (HPRRTC), sited at the community.

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, who unveiled the HPRRTC, urged the university management to drive researches that would address environmental challenges and ensure safety for current and future generations.

Omo-Agege, represented by his Chief of Staff, Dr. Itive Igbuzor, described the project as remarkable.

“The mission of this centre should be to foster an understanding of the environment through research and translate such research efforts through teaching and community service to the production of personnel, who will address and change environmental practices in an ecologically sustainable and socially just manner.”