The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bayelsa State

  • Pensioners protest unpaid allowances in Bayelsa

    Pensioners protest unpaid allowances in Bayelsa

    Aggrieved pensioners, Wednesday, blocked major roads in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State to protest four-month arrears of unpaid allowances by Governor Seriake Dickson.

    The aged men and women carried placards and marched from St. Peters Primary School Ovom to the Government House gate in Onopa.

    As they marched, the pensioners who were led by one Bodi Amara, the leader of Concerned Pensioners in Bayelsa, sang songs in solidarity attracting sympathy from onlookers.

    They said it was wicked for the government to owe them for four months adding that many of them were sick and hungry.

    Some of the placards they carried bore inscriptions such as, “pensioners not for endorsement and politics” and “talk and do governor, you have failed us.”

    The angry pensioners were received by the Chief of Staff to the governor, Chief Talford Ongolo who assured them of government’s determination to solve their problems.

    It was gathered that Ongolo later met with the leadership of the pensioners and promised the government would pay them one month to enable them celebrate the yuletide.

    He told them that the Treasury Department had been put on notice to quickly arrange for the one month allowance of the pensioners.

    The Chairman of Bayelsa State pensioners, Dr. Emmanuel Namatebe, who was at the meeting said Ongolo promised that after the yuletide, the government would sit with the pensioners and fashion out modalities of paying the remaining arrears.

    He said: “We are owed from September to November. But since the government has promised to pay us one month to enable us celebrate the yuletide it means they want to pay for September.  We have not received alert yet but if the money is not paid today, it means that it won’t be paid till after Christmas. “

  • Tension in Bayelsa as Dickson calls for protest during collation

    Tension in Bayelsa as Dickson calls for protest during collation

    Tension gripped Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital as residents waited for the arrival of results of the governorship election from two local government areas of Nembe and Southern Ijaw.

    Security was beefed up in the state capital with four Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) deployed round the state collation centre.

    Detachment of ant-bomb squad, anti-riot policemen and soldiers took over some strategic areas in Yenagoa to forestall breakdown of law and order.

    The Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, was live on the state owned Radio Bayelsa protesting the electoral process at time he was leading APC with over 28,000 votes.

    Dickson asked residents to hit the streets at 2pm for a rally to protest what was happening at the collation centre and vowed to lead the protest.

    The governor who fielded questions from listeners said: “There will be a rally to resist what is happening now. It is clear to me that security services have become an army of occupation”.

  • Bayelsa PDP calls for postponement of Southern Ijaw LG election

    Bayelsa PDP calls for postponement of Southern Ijaw LG election

    • Accreditation ongoing
    • Dickson gives reasons for storming INEC’s collation centre , Southern Ijaw LGA

    The Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, has written to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, calling for indefinite postponement of Sunday rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, until when security of lives and property can be guaranteed.

    Dokubo-Spiff said with Saturday’s violence and loss of lives of innocent people, it would not be safe to go ahead with the election in Southern Ijaw, the biggest LGA in Nigeria, with over 90 per cent being on water and some places taking up to three hours to access by speed boat, as well as being an LGA notorious for militancy, cultism and kidnapping, but accreditation of the electorate by INEC officials is currently ongoing in the LGA, preparatory to voting later today.

    The Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson, through his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in a telephone interview on Sunday afternoon, also said he was not desperate about winning the election at all costs, but went to INEC’s collation centre at Onopa, Yenagoa around 11 p.m. on Saturday, contrary to Electoral Act, not to manipulate results being collated, but to prevent some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to allegedly rig the election.

    Dickson denied threatening to deal seriously with APC’s Werinipre Seibarugu and Fortune Panebi.

    The Bayelsa governor also stated that he was at Oporoma, the headquarters of Southern Ijaw LGA of the state on Sunday morning, as the Chief Security Officer, to prevent further loss of lives and destruction of valuable property, thereby calling for further shift of the poll, but had to leave the INEC’s office to ensure peace, according to him, when some APC leaders from the LGA were behaving unruly and threatening to cause crisis.

    The Director, Media and Publicity of Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, Chief Nathan Egba, insisted that Dickson was at the INEC’s collation centre in Yenagoa to manipulate results being collated, while accusing the incumbent governor of desperation.

    Egba reiterated that Dickson, early Sunday morning, led a large delegation to Oporoma to protest against the rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw LGA, in spite of being from Sagbama LGA, insisting that the Bayelsa governor was told by the INEC officials that he had no powers to stop today’s rescheduled election.

    The director, media and publicity of Sylva-Igiri campaign organisation maintained that Dickson, the governorship candidate of the PDP, leaving his LGA and moving to INEC’s collation centre in Yenagoa LGA and desperately leaving for Southern Ijaw LGA was not in line with the Electoral Act and he should be sanctioned for not being law abiding.

  • MEND, Jonathan, others to attend Dickson’s rally

    MEND, Jonathan, others to attend Dickson’s rally

    Leadership and members of the Niger Delta militant group, Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) will on November 28 attend the final rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the December 5 governorship election, Governor Seriake Dickson.

    A statement signed on Tuesday by the Restoration Campaign Organisation (RCO) said the leadership of MEND will attend the campaign’s grand finale to sensitise people on the need for a peaceful poll in the state.

    RCO in the statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, said the former President Goodluck Jonathan would also be present at the rally.

    Others that will grace the occasion are members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), all the party’s sitting and past governors, PD P senators and members of the House of Assembly, past and present, Bayelsa PDP leaders and members across the state.

    Also party stakeholders and supporters, at home and in the diaspora, the 500 non-governmental organisations routing for Dickson’s re-election and people from diverse and strategic institutions will be on ground to rally support for the governor.

    Obuebite said the grand finale which would also witness the presentation of PDP flag to Dickson and his running mate by the national leadership of the party would shut down the state capital.

    He said: “Bayelsa State is the Jerusalem of all Ijaws and the mother of all rallies will showcase the unity of purpose of the Ijaw people coming together as one and affirming the collective interest and aspirations of the Ijaw race.

    “The leadership and members of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) would attend as a pressure group to mount campaign for a free and fair election at the December 5 governorship election.

    “The mega rally is a culmination of Governor Seriake Dickson’s community-to-community tours, a grassroots campaign which had taken him to the nooks and crannies of the state in the last one month, spreading his message of restoration and consolidation of peace, security and development through his re-election.”

  • Museum of endorsements

    Museum of endorsements


    As the polls for Kogi and Bayelsa governorships loom, news reports show a trend. We read about whole communities declaring for a candidate. I wonder whether such reporters spoke to whole communities. The worst culprit has been the imperial-looking, walking-stick Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State. He probably mistakes his walking stick for a police baton, given the way he governs. And he was a policeman. Sometimes though he poses more like a headmaster. These reports are clearly orchestrated. But this trend began decades ago. As a student, I often wondered how a reporter knew that a whole community endorsed one person without any scientific proof. It is often done by a call or a news release signed by a fawning soldier of the candidate. Reporters and editors should be wary of such reports. Some newspapers reported similar enthusiasms in the just-concluded elections, and the real results turned to be the opposite. Such reports about endorsements will eventually end as collections in a museum of lies. This is a parody of the tale in Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s work, The Museum of Innocence.

  • Gunmen abduct medical doctor in Bayelsa

    Gunmen abduct medical doctor in Bayelsa

    Insecurity in Bayelsa State ahead of the December 5 governorship election worsened Friday following the abduction of a medical doctor in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

    The doctor identified simply as Ekwueme was kidnapped a day after a similar fate befell Madam Ebifeghe Dikoro, 105 years old mother of Chief Wilberforce Igiri, the running mate to the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva.

    Ahead of the elections, the activities of criminals have increased in the state especially kidnappers who reportedly carry out their operations unhindered on daily basis.

    Many traditional rulers and women were said to have been kidnapped with the two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trading blames.

    It was learnt that Ekwueme who works in a clinic in Korokorosei, the community of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, was abducted in the community.

    He was reportedly kidnapped from his home at about 3am by unidentified gunmen who operated in speedboats.

    The assailants were said to have shot sporadically into the air before breaking into the apartment of their target.

    They were said to have bundled him into a speedboat and sped off to an unknown place.

    A security source who confirmed the development described the rate of kidnapping as worrisome and overwhelming.

    The source who pleaded anonymity regretted that all the security outfits in the state including the police were helpless over the development and called on the people to be vigilant.

    He said the crime rate would increase ahead of the election.

    It was also gathered that another medical doctor in Nembe Local Government Area recently received a threat from a gang of kidnappers.

    The kidnappers were said to have sent a bank account number to him directing him to deposit N200, 000 into the account or they would abduct him.

    An activist, Mr. Alagoa Morris, condemned the rising cases of kidnapping saying: “The security situation has gone beyond critical. It was better during militancy”.

    When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Asinim Butswat, promised to give further details.

  • Sylva running mate’s mother abducted

    There was outrage in Bayelsa State following the abduction of Madam Ebifeghe Dikoro, 100 years old mother of Chief Wilberforce Igiri, the running mate to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva.
    Details later…

  • Dickson’s political adviser kidnapped

    Chief Fynman Wilson, the Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has been abducted.

    He was reportedly kidnapped in his house, Sagbama, Sagbama Local Government Area of the state.

    Details soon

  • PDP’s BoT meeting in Bayelsa sparks row

    PDP’s BoT meeting in Bayelsa sparks row

    It was meant to bring peace. But a meeting by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in Bayelsa State to reconcile feuding groups ahead of the December 5 governorship election has provoked more controversies.

    The Acting Chairman of the party’s BoT, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, it was gathered, presided over the parley which was convened on Sunday at the courtyard of the former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area.

    It was gathered that the meeting was at the behest of Jonathan, who was said to be making efforts to halt the exodus of his party men to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A core decision taken at the gathering, it was learnt, was the lifting of the suspension and expulsion of party leaders by the State Working Committee (SWC).

    The SWC, in a move supported by the Governor Seriake Dickson, expelled for anti-party activities during the last general elections.

    They were sanctioned a few months after the state chairman of the party was suspended for allegedly diverting N40million campaign funds donated by the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke – an allegation he denied.

    But the move backfired and led to a prolonged crisis that saw some disgruntled people pitching their tent with the APC.

    The Saturday meeting, which started at 11am, however, ended with anti-Dickson forces claiming that the governor and the chairman of the state Reconciliation Committee were barred from the gathering.

    One of the anti-Dickson party members said the meeting, insisted that Dickson and Alameiyesiegha should not be part of it.

    The source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The two were asked to leave and were accompanied out of the venue by Haliru before the meeting commenced. They accused Alamieseigha of taking sides and insisted that he should not be party of the gathering.

    But a loyalist of the governor who spoke in confidence said nobody was walked out of the meeting.

    He said: “This is part of a campaign of calumny against Dickson. I was present at the meeting and nobody was walked out. It is senseless to say that a sitting governor who also initiated the reconciliation and a former governor who is the chairman of the reconciliation committee were barred from attending a meeting. It is unbelievable. Nothing of such happened”.

    Also, the Secretary of the state Reconciliation Committee, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said there was no time the governor or any member of the party was walked out of the meeting.

    He said the Haliru-led committee met with groups separately as part of diplomacy in resolving the crisis.

    “Dickson had an engagement to inaugurate the Nembe City stadium. So after concluding his meeting with the committee, he was allowed to go for his engagement with his entourage. We also followed him to Nembe.

    “Alamieyeseigha followed us to Nembe. Even the former President left shortly because the committee wanted to be left alone with the people they invited to meet. So, it is not true that he was walked out of the meeting,” he said.

    Also, the state Secertary of PDP, Mr.  Godspower Keku, said the meeting ended peacefully, with a call on feuding members and stakeholders to close ranks, ahead of the forthcoming governorship poll.

    He said the meeting resolved to rescind the suspension and expulsion of some members, who had despite the internal squabbles, remained in the PDP, unlike those, who defected to the opposition.

    He said the decision was taken in the best interest of the party, especially with a crucial election around the corner.

    According to him, the decision was taken on Dickson’s request.

     He, however, pointed out that, the lifting of the suspensions was still subject to the ratification of the state’s working committee, which is expected to deliberate on it soon.

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  • What is the value of human life in Bayelsa State, Niger Delta?

    It is time to declare a State of Emergency on the Environment in Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta, in order to save the lives of our people and the future of our communities. For the people of Bayelsa State and especially families of the victims and staff of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, this month will go down as the July of Death, on account of the needless deaths inflicted upon our beloved ones and colleagues by Nigeria’s environmentally irresponsible oil and gas industry. In the course of a joint investigation/instant repairs visit to an oil spill site in the Azuzuama community area in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, a fire disaster occurred that claimed all of fourteen lives, including an officer each from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment. We are grieving, but we must now also insist yet again that it is time to take decisive action to stop this perilous hazard that has become a routine threat to life and ecology in Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta. It is time for all that are truly concerned to move from lip service to real action now!

    All options must be put on the table for consideration and action, including a moratorium on oil production and the revocation or suspension of oil mining leases and pipeline licences until adequate practical arrangements, visible for all to see, are made by the oil industry and relevant tiers of Government for the protection of the environment and impacted communities. Also in need of urgent protection are the state and federal regulatory officers who despite extreme institutional and funding constraints still feel compelled to go out to oil spill sites and put their lives at risk every day just to help minimise the continuous destruction of the environment. To these unsung heroes, the under-equipped and unappreciated regulators and monitors at federal and state levels, we say thank you for your thankless daily sacrifices in attempting to protect the environment and making it possible for oil production to go on and generate the billions of dollars in public revenues that fund our governments, public infrastructure and social services. This is the context in which one of our excellent officers, Engr Duabo Theophilus, went out to do his selfless duty on that fateful 9th of July and only returned in a body bag. We all owe you, ourselves and posterity a duty to not allow things to continue the way they are, no matter the cost.

    This is a clarion call to action, a moral challenge and an SOS message to the Federal Government, authorities at all levels of Government, the international community (including the United Nations), and the national and global environmental rights movement/NGOs to finally move beyond rhetoric and take a definitive stand against the environmental crime against humanity that everybody knows is taking place in the Niger Delta. It is also an appeal to the conscience of the multinational oil corporations in Nigeria that continue to destroy our environment and our people’s lives through their reckless operations and their scandalous environmental and safety standards.

    In the meantime, the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment will continue to engage with all concerned parties, including investigatory authorities, the industry operators involved (Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd and its contractor, Vowgas Limited) and the affected families to ensure that there is comprehensive and speedy investigation, full accountability by all those responsible for this disaster, adequate compensations, and a radical change in environmental standards comparable to international oilfield best practice.

    Our thoughts remain with the families of all the fourteen souls lost in the Azuzuama oil pipeline fire disaster of 9th July, 2015.

     

    • Will is Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment