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Tag: Bayelsa

  • Again, Dickson, Sylva clash over Bayelsa violence

    ….Dickson order security agencies to arrest APC lawmaker

    ….Leave us out of your incompetence, Sylva

     

    Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson and former Governor Seriake Dickson on Friday threw tantrums at each other over bloody violence in the state especially at the oil-rich Twon Brass, Brass Local Government Area.

    Dickson in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, blamed continual bloody clashes, which caused deaths and injuries in Brass on the only All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker in the House of Assembly, Isreal Sunny-Goli.

    The governor directed the security agencies in the state to arrest and prosecute the legislator, who represents Brass Constituency 1.

    Dickson warned that if Sunny-Goli was not arrested and prosecuted by the law enforcement agencies, he would personally mobilise the people of the state to apprehend him.

    The governor alleged that the police authorities and the Department of State Services (DSS) failed to arrest the lawmaker because he belonged to the APC despite the plethora of petitions against him.

    He accused the lawmaker of being responsible for various crimes including murder, thuggery and cultism in his constituency and the whole of Brass Local Government Area of the state.

    He alleged that Sunny-Goli was one of the kingpins of cultism in the state responsible for several unresolved murders.

    He said: “Sunny-Goli is a criminal and a fugitive, who is running away from the law. He is responsible for several deaths in the state and runs to Abuja to seek refuge. The police authorities cannot continue to condone acts of criminality simply because Sunny-Goli (also known as Adi) is a member of the APC. The law must not be applied selectively.

    “The position of the Bayelsa State Government is that Sunny-Goli has to be arrested. We are asking the IG and the DSS to take steps to prevent an abuse of their powers by someone who terrorises innocent people.

    “I will mobilise the people of this state to arrest him since the law enforcement agencies cannot do it. As governor of this state, I do not and will not condone criminal acts by any individual no matter his position in the state. I have a zero tolerance for criminality and lawlessness.”

    He also expressed shock that President Muhammadu Buhari could allow former Governor Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri and other APC leaders to cause mayhem in the state despite several reports and complaints to him and security agencies.

    Read Also: 2019: Bauchi APC adopts Buhari, Abubakar

    He added: “The President has allowed common criminals and terrorists such as Sylva and Lokpobiri to unleash violence on their people while the IG is sitting in Abuja to direct investigation of a petition against the Brass Council chairman.

    “At the moment, they are attacking innocent people in Brass, who are members of the PDP, with people bloodied and houses burnt all in a bid to destabilise the state.”

    The governor alleged that Sunny-Goli had several pending cases before the police and the DSS for which he was invited but that he shunned the invitation.

    He said the lawmaker sought protection in Abuja from where he wrote a frivolous petition that resulted in Thursday’s invasion of the homes of the interim chairman of the Brass council, Victor Isaiah, and that of the former chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Timipa Tiwei Orunimighe, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He insisted that Isaiah who was invited by the police would honour the invitation when the security agencies act on the earlier petitions against the lawmaker that was being protected by the agencies.

    The governor accused the APC leaders in the state, including Sylva and Lokpobiri, of using the security agencies to shield criminals, intimidate and harass innocent citizens.

    But in a swift reaction, Sylva in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Julius Bokoru, asked Dickson to leave him and other APC members out of his incompetence and shortcomings.

    The statement said Dickson in his warped imagination had continued to accuse Sylva of violence without any concrete evidence.

    “What puzzles Sylva most is not how deeply untrue and infantile Dickson’s statements are, but the fact that Dickson may have finally developed a complex problem over Sylva, a complex borne out of Dickson’s awareness that he is a classless opportunist who will never measure up intellectually, socially and morally to Sylva.

    “If Dickson saw it fit to spend even a third of the energies he spends obsessing over Sylva on the task of governance before him, the state would have been better for it.

    Dickson can simply be described as a grand patron of criminality in Bayelsa state.

    “He has turned the state Government House into a shelter for all people of questionable characters chased out of the APC . These are Mr. Perekeme Kpodo who is currently standing trial for rape, Timipa Orunimighe and Africanus ukparasia.

    “While the APC and its leaders in the state are purging criminals out of its fold , Dickson and his lowly government welcome and celebrate them as he is building an army of criminally-minded elements to unleash terror on members of APC in the state.

    “This can be confirmed in his statement when he threatened to take the law into his hands by mobilizing his people to arrest Hon Israel Sunny-Goli . The question is who are his people that he wants to mobilize? The guess easily becomes his private army of criminals whom he also sent to resist the arrest of Mr. Victor Isiah who is wanted for multiple murders and brigandage”, he said.

    The statement further alleged that Dickson had penchant for violence adding that the governor was hypocritical with primordial capacity for brute mischief.

    The statement added: “Lest we forget, on March 30th 2015, Dickson personally led a gang of thugs to attack a Federal High court in Yenagoa, an act which was caught on camera and extensively circulated on the media.

    “That unabashed show of violence scored a new low for the office of the Governor Of Bayelsa State. Even as governor, his instinctive appetite for violence could not keep him from personally partaking in that assault against lawyers and judges of a Federal High Court.

    “It is also on record how security operatives loyal to Dickson killed over eleven natives of Amassoma who were only protesting the arbitrary sack of thousands of Bayelsa state workers whose only crime was to be thought apologetic to the APC.

    “On February 29th 2016, on the instruction of Governor Dickson, thugs were unleashed on elderly pensioners protesting their five months pay in front of Government House.

    “Reducing octogenarians, who should be revered, to pulp is another unbelievable low. Ours was supposed to be a society where elders are venerated, but Dickson’s orgy of violence is not a respecter of revered conventions”.

    The statement further said that under Dickson, politicians including members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been assassinated.

    It said: “The case of those killed in Brass is a murder case and not a political case.The fact Dickson is desperately trying to cast a political theme on what is a clear cut murder case is another affirmation that we have a man morbidly interested in death and disaster, a man clearly oblivious of the value of human lives.

    “It beats one’s imagination that a man who claims to have a legal background would feel panicked by the police going about its simple procedures of investigating a string of murders. Or have we now completely lost our morality that series of murders in the state should go unresolved? However ghastly politics might be, loss of human lives can never be explained away on its alters.

    “Dickson who has set Bayelsa state on reverse for the last six years with gross incompetence, mediocrity and innate naivety should own up to his glaring inadequacies instead of depleting state resources in fighting imaginary enemies”.

  • Aspirants threatening my life, says Bayelsa Speaker

    The Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Konbowei Benson, on Wednesday said some unnamed aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were after his life.

    Benson cried out that the aggrieved elements averse to his rising political profile in his Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 were threatening his life.

    Benson, who is warming up for an elevation to the National Assembly to represent Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency on the platform of the PDP said the elements were against his ambition.

    He said such persons were also against the state Governor, Seriake Dickson, despite all their developmental efforts in the local government area.

    Describing the plot to stop him by all means as evil, Benson lamented that already his detractors had successfully created division among politicians in his constituency 4.

    The speaker said he reported the matter to the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) adding that he received many threat messages.

    He said: “My fear is the sharp disunity in the constituency. I have respectfully served the state and the area with the fear of the almighty and have delivered a lot of dividends but some few element have consistently undermined these my contributions and those of the governor.

    “Again they have vowed to turn the constituency upside down. My constituency is under demonic attack and I am praying for God’s intervention.

    “So many of my people have been taken away more are negotiating.Defection is looming around the corner in constituency 1V.

    “I have since reported the matter to the police and the DSS because of the deluge of threat messages they keep sending to me. In this political session, you can’t take chances”.

  • Flooding: Edo intensifies work at resettlement camps, safe havens

    The Edo State Government has said that work has intensified at designated resettlement camps across the state to receive residents, who are displaced by flooding.

    Persistent rainfall in the past few weeks dislodged some persons from their homes, as the state government announced the opening of resettlement camps for residents that were adversely affected by the heavy downpours.

    The state government issued flood alert in parts of the state last week, following new predictions that the state will experience flooding incidence with the persistent rainfall and the release of water from dams in neighbouring countries.

    Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties, Mr Yakubu Gowon, said that an inter-ministerial committee to oversee the relocation of affected persons and running of the resettlement camps and safe havens has been set up.

    He disclosed that the committee is made up of officials of the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), special assistants to the governor in the various wards, officials of ministries of infrastructure, environment and health, local council chairmen, members of the Red Cross, Fire Service and local government councillors, who are on standby to assist people in distress.

    He listed the areas earmarked as safe havens to include “the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camp in Oghomere in Etsako Central Local Government Area and the skills acquisition centre in Fugar.

    Read Also: Edo intensifies promotion of local languages

    “In Esan South East Local Government Area, the council hall and the hall of St. Benedict Catholic Church in Ubiaja will serve as safe haven.  In Ikpoba-Okha local council, Western Boys High School hall has been pencilled down to receive those displaced from their homes in the council area,” he added.

    He said that men and women will be separated in the camps to protect their rights and assured that effort is being made to procure more relief materials to be delivered when the camps are ready.

    “In Ovia North East, the local government chairman has donated a place in Okada while another place in Gelegele, in the same local council will provide succour to flood victims,” Gowon said.

    The governor’s aide maintained that the relevant ministries have desilted blocked drainages to ease the flow of water in the city.

    Two weeks ago, Edo State government donated relief materials to communities affected by windstorm in Esan West and Owan West local government areas of the state. Similar donation had been made in ten local councils where windstorm destroyed houses.

    Handing over the relief materials on behalf of the state government to chairmen of the two local councils in Benin City, the state capital, Gowon said “This is a continuous exercise, we have donated relief materials to communities in about 12 local government areas and we have been receiving letters of appreciation from the beneficiaries.

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Hydrological Services Agencies (NHISA) have warned that 12 states across the country would experience flooding due to torrential rain falls.

    The two agencies gave the warning during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting held with relevant stakeholders in Abuja.

    Mr Clem Nze, Director, Engineering Hydrology, NHISA, listed the states to include: Kogi, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Edo, Anambra, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states, from the River Niger axis.

    He also listed Taraba, Benue and Adamawa as states to be affected from the River Benue axis.

    He said that the decision to raise the alarm was to ensure preparedness among stakeholders and residents of flood-prone communities.

    The NEMA and NHISA alert followed a similar alert issued by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMeT), warning of high floods in some identified states across the country including Edo.

  • Bayelsa to aspirants: don’t allow primaries’ outcomes divide us

    The Bayelsa State government at the weekend appealed to Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP) members vying for the party’s tickets to keep PDP’s unity intact whatever the results of the primaries.

    Speaking in his office in Yenagoa, Commissioner for Information and Orientation Daniel Iworiso-Markson said the primaries should not throw up negative reactions that could lead to exit of members.

    He said only one person would emerge in each of the state and federal constituencies as well as senatorial zones, adding that victors should be supported by others to win the election in 2019.

    He noted that only bad losers and those without sound political ideology will dump the party because of their desperation and parochial interest.

    Iworiso-Markson argued that the collective interest of the party is more important than that of any individual, and urged aspirants to work hard to win delegates at the primaries.

    The Information commissioner maintained that every loyal member of the PDP should work to keep the party together and confront challenges of winning the elections next year, rather than opt out to other parties.

    While praising Governor Seriake Dickson for the political stability in the state, Iworiso-Markson noted that the state would have been up in flames because of political tension, if not for the governor’s intervention.

    He also hailed the leadership of PDP in the state for their maturity, and expressed confidence the primaries would be free, fair and credible.

    Iworiso-Markson noted that some saw political offices as the easiest way to financial freedom, a mentality consistent with Nigeria’s political system.

    He said: “What I am excited about is the peace and stability in the state. The elections are here and yet we don’t have the usual security challenge caused by unecessary political tension as it was in the past. If you listen to the developments in other states, some of the neighbouring states around us you will here the drums of war.

    “So we have Governor Dickson to thank for that. Let me use this opportunity to call on all aspirants of the PDP, to remain loyal members of the party, despite what will be the outcome. They should be patriotic in defeat by remaining in the party. All hands need to be on deck to win the general elections”.

  • Bayelsa APC adopts direct primaries

    The State Working Committee (SWC) and other stakeholders in Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC), at the weekend, adopted direct primaries as the method of electing candidates for the general elections.

    The decision on mode of primaries was taken at a well-attended stakeholders’ meeting presided over by a former Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.

    The stakeholders said they settled for direct primaries to allow for cohesion and an all-inclusive participation by members.

    A former Acting Governor, Chief Werinipre Seibarugu, moved the motion for adoption of direct primaries, which was seconded by a former Government House Chief of Staff, Chief Samuel Ogbuku.

    In his speech, Sylva noted that the APC will sweep the polls.

    He insisted that with the quality of aspirants in the APC, the party is already ahead of the PDP at the polls.

    “For me l see the harvest of victories. The time for harvest is near”, he said adding that the APC is stronger and more united.

    Following his request, Sylva was made the director-general of the state and national legislature campaigns in the 105 wards.

    Lokpobiri hailed party leaders and supporters for voting for the direct primaries.

    “The direct primaries was adopted to give sense of belonging  and it will not allow some persons to hijack the party for personal gains”, he said.

    Lokpobiri also said that by the decision, the Bayelsa chapter had shown their willingness to align with the centre.

    He said the party would win all 24 seats in the House of Assembly and National Assembly.

    Lokpobiri declared that the people are begging for help, adding that they are hungry and desperate for freedom.

    He said: “When they complaints and cries come, I answered them. They were reaping what they deserved by voting for the wrong person and party. But now, the suffering is enough.

    “The people of Bayelsa have suffered enough. The next election will be used to send a message that this is the time for our people. To me if we select the right candidate, we will win the State House of assemblies and National Assembly seats.

  • Dickson shops for replacements as aides seek PDP tickets

    …CPS leaves for Benue

     

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, is seeking competent persons to fill vacancies created in his cabinet following resignations of his aides.

    It was gathered on Friday that many of his aides left their appointments to obtain expression of interest and nomination forms for the forthcoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary elections.

    Dickson earlier directed that aides interested in PDP tickets should resign their appointments and leave his government to pursue their ambitions.

    Latest to submit their expression of interest and nomination forms were the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Francis Ottah-Agbo and the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Lawrence Ewrujakpor.

    Though it was not clear whether Ottah-Agbo formally resigned his appointment as directed by the governor, he was said to have traveled to Benue, his state to submit his forms.

    Ottah-Agbo, who styled his campaign as the moving train, is seeking the PDP ticket to represent Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.

    Sources said there was no way the CPS would have traveled to Benue to struggle for a PDP ticket without first resigning his appointment to avoid creating a vacuum.

    Already, competent aides in the governor’s media team such as the SpecialAdviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei and the Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Daniel Alabrah were said to be jostling for the position of the CPS.

    But Ewrudjakpor’s ambition to clinch the PDP’s ticket for the Bayelsa West Senatorial District was said to be generating mixed feelings in Dickson’s cabinet.

    The cabinet members were said to have applauded the move but at the same time unhappy that a person of his quality and competence would be missing in the government.

    Described as a super commissioner, Ewrujakpor, a confidant of Dickson, has been instrumental to the strides of the governor on infrastructures.

    Most of the cabinet members said it would be extremely difficult for the governor to find a replacement for Ewruhjakpor.

    Other key members of Dickson’s political family such as the Speaker, House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, lawmakers representing Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal constituencies, Douye Diri and Fred Agbedi as well as former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Prof Steve Azaiki also submitted their forms.

    The aspirants alongside their teeming supporters defied heavy downpour to submit forms ahead party primaries scheduled for September ending.

    Ewrudjakpo, in an interview with the newsmen shortly after the submission of his nomination form said his decision to join the race is hinged on bringing government to the grassroots, and, as well fast tracking infrastructural development in the state.

    He bemoaned inadequate federal presence in the state, in spite of Bayelsa’s contributions to the socioeconomic growth of the country.

    “These are the issues that needed to be addressed through restructuring and proper legislations”, he said.

    He said as a lawyer, he would bring his wealth of experience on the bench to bear in the act of law making and true representation.

    The aspirant thanked the teeming youths from the senatorial district for the confidence reposed in him and promised not to let them down.

    Also, Benson, Diri and Agbedi, said law-making was not a tea party but a serious business adding that their experiences as lawmakers would assist in sponsoring bills that would be beneficial to the people of the state.

  • Flooding: Bayelsa enlists support of community-based groups

    The Bayelsa Government has called for the support of community-based groups in sensitising the coastal communities in the state in order to check flooding.

    Commissioner for Environment Mr Ebipatei Apaingolo, made the call yesterday in Yenagoa, when a community-based group, Ondewari Health Education and Environmental Project (OHEEP) visited him.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET) recently predicted that Bayelsa was among the states to experience flooding this year.

    Apaingolo said sensitisation of the rural dwellers was necessary due to their ignorance and about the impending flooding.

    “In view of the impending flooding, the state government has concluded plans to embark on sensitisation tours of our coastal communities.

    “We want OHEEP to be part of the project and assist in the sensitisation of our people; I believe the messages will be more assimilated when you are involved because of your closeness to the grassroots,” he said.

    The commissioner commended the group for championing environmental advocacy in the rural communities and urged other communities to establish similar groups.

    OHEEP Director Alagoa Morris, intimated the commissioner of the rise in exploitation and harvest of forest resources including indiscriminate cutting down of trees in Bayelsa.

    Morris called for proactive policies and legislations to prevent indiscriminate felling of trees and flooding in the state.

  • JTF, Shell deny coercing Bayelsa community to endorse spill report

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta and oil major, Shell on Monday denied allegations of coercing the leadership of Aghoro 1 community in Bayelsa to sign a disputed report on oil spillage.

    A disagreement in the areas impacted by an oil leak on the Trans Ramos Pipeline within Shell’s oilfield at Aghoro communities in Bayelsa has stalled the release of a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report of the oil spill.

    Read Also:Oil Spill: Communities threaten to stop Pipeline repair

    Community leaders, who participated in the JIV to determine the cause of the spill reportedly refused to sign the report.

    The refusal was attributed to wide disparity between the impacted areas claimed by Shell and the community.

    Mr Victor Akamu, Chairman of the Community Development Committee of Aghoro 1, had alleged that Shell connived with the JTF to force and intimidation, to compel the community to sign the report.

    Akamu told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Yenagoa that JTF summoned the community’s leadership to Yenagoa on Aug. 23 to force them to sign the JIV report but that the leaders refused to sign.

    He said the team from Aghoro were labelled pipeline vandals and were profiled into the database of the JTF.

    “We were taken to a room where detailed profiles of all of us were taken, including our finger prints, biometric details and our photographs.

    “We were temporarily held down for almost three hours profiling before we were eventually told to go.

    “I wanted to ask if it is part of JTF’s job to force a community to sign a JIV report.

    “Shell should stop using JTF to intimidate our community. For the past 20 years, there is no history of pipeline vandalism.

    “This leak was due to a ruptured pipeline, due to corrosion yet they call us vandals, it is unacceptable,” Akamu said.

    However, reacting to the allegation of intimidation, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager of Shell, denied use of force to compel the company’s host communities to sign the JIV report.

    “Yes, there are issues with the JIV report. The representative of Aghoro 1 community did not agree with a portion of the JIV report but we have not used force.

    “SPDC does not coerce parties to sign JIV reports,” Odugbesan said.

    Similarly, the Commander of the JTF, Rear Adm. Apochi Suleiman, dismissed the allegations of intimidation made by Aghoro community.

    He said that the military waded into the crisis to encourage both parties to adopt dialogue to resolve their differences to avert breach of peace.

    “We conduct our duties in compliance with our rules of engagement. We invited the parties to mediate and encourage them to dialogue and use the established channels of resolving conflicts.

    “I told them to resolve their differences on the negotiating table so that the operation is not disrupted. Our mandate is to safeguard oil facilities and we do not want the disagreement to degenerate further.

    “We got reports that some persons were disrupting ongoing repairs of the ruptured pipelines and that was why some people were profiled.

    “I was emphatic that we cannot tolerate anyone taking the law into his hands,” Suleiman said.

    NAN investigations showed that the leak, which occurred on May 17 this year, discharged about 1,114 barrels of crude oil into the environment and polluted the Ramos River and farmlands.

    The draft JIV report said the 1,114 barrels of crude impacted a total land area of 113.3 hectares in Aghoro 1 but the community claimed that the impacted area was 1825 hectares.

     

  • Jones Abiri returns to Bayelsa, relieves ordeal

    ‘I was blindfolded, held in underground DSS cell’ says Abiri

     

    Jones Abiri, a journalist and publisher of a local tabloid in Bayelsa State, the Weekly Source, on Tuesday returned to Yenagoa, the state capital, and relieved his ordeal in the hands of the Department for State Security (DSS).

    Abiri, who was received at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) by journalists and leadership of the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) said he was arrested in his office, detained for seven days in DSS cell in Yenagoa and later blindfolded and flown to Abuja.

    He said he was kept incommunicado in an underground DSS cell in Abuja and denied access to medical treatment for about two years.

    Abiri, who was also received by his wife and family members, said the hope that God would grant him freedom one day kept him alive throughout the period of his incarceration.

    He said: “Precisely l was arrested on July 21st, 2016 in my office at about 3:23pm. About 12 armed men came to my office and they came with a document, a search warrant that my office was under investigations.

    “When l perused the search warrant, l saw it was signed by one Magistrate Lucky. I allowed them and they searched my office. At the end of the search they found nothing. They handcuffed me, took my phones, laptops and other things. Things unconnected to my arrest were also taken. All my pay slips, banking information were taken.

    “They whisked me away to the state command. I gave my statement and after spending seven days in Yenagoa, they took me to Abuja. Initially, l didn’t know where l was going. My eyes were blindfolded. Since that time, l have not been giving the grace and the opportunity to see my wife, my children, sisters, brothers and friends.

    “My lawyers were denied access to me. I was in an underground cell, where when the light went off, you would not see the next person. I was also denied medicals. I thank God that the CLO and other rights organization took up the matter and today l am out of detention.

    “If not because of the voice of the media and the CLO, DSS wouldn’t have taken me to court. I was given one count charge that l sent threat messages to Agip Nigeria Limited and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) demanding money.

    “But l said l knew nothing about that because l had no connection with oil companies. But they insisted l was the one. But l kept on holding onto my creator. Now the matter is court”.

    Abiri assured the DSS and person who signed his bail bond that he would not jump bail expressing optimism that he would win the case.

    “They were thinking that l would jump bail. But l am ready and very resilient to face my trial. I am emphatic and believing God that l am going to win the case. I am not scared of them. Dr. Ambassador Godknows Igali and Fredrick Andy came to my rescue to sign the bail bonds without fear. They stuck their neck. So, l will not jump bail”, he said.

    He added that following his experience in detention, he had concluded plans to write a book to be entitled, My Prison Journey.

    He thanked the Press Unlimited, an organisation in Netherlands for donating €2000 amounting to about N450,000 which facilitated his freedom.

    He said though he knew nothing about the organisation, it came to his rescue through an environmental activist, Alagoa Morris and Peter Ikanga.

    Abiri disclosed that he had filed a suit to enforce his fundamental human rights at the Federal High Court, Abuja adding that the matter would come up for hearing on August 27th.

    “If l am a militant, Niger Delta will know that l am a militant. But l am not a militant. If I were a militant, l wouldn’t have owned an office to be doing my newspaper work. I should have been in the creek. I have already filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja to enforce my fundamental human rights”, he said.

    Read Also: The case for Jones Abiri

    Also speaking, the Bayelsa State Chairman, CLO, Chief Nengi James, thanked all the stakeholders, who contributed for the release of Abiri.

    He, however, asked security agencies especially the DSS to stop persecution of the Ijaw and Niger Delta people.

    James lamented that over 50 persons from the region were being held in detention without trial and called on the DSS to follow the process of law and grant them freedom.

    Also speaking, the Bayelsa Chairman, NUJ, Mr. John Angese, said Abiri is a bonafide journalist in the state saying his experience in DSS detention would make him stronger in his profession.

    Chairmen of the Bayelsa Federated Newspapers Publishers Association (BAFENPA) and Bayelsa Independent Publishers Association (BIPA) in their various remarks asked the DSS to respect the rule of law in its operations.

  • Experts drum support for Safe Motherhood Campaign Initiative

    Some medical experts in Bayelsa on Friday advised pregnant women to key into the Safe Motherhood Campaign Initiative of the State Government to tackle infant and maternal mortality rate.

    Dr Ebiakpo Agbedi, Director of Planning, Research and Statistics in the state Primary Health Care Board, gave the advice during an orientation programme in Yenagoa.

    Agbedi said that the programme was organised by the state Ministry of Health for members of the Sensitisation Committee on Safe Motherhood.

    Read Also: SON commences nationwide evacuation of unfortified food products

    He explained that the essence of the Safe Motherhood Initiative was to promote good health of mother and child across the communities.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Bayelsa Government had on July 31 launched its Safe Motherhood Initiative.

    “The pregnant women benefits from the programme include free ante-natal care; enrolees of the safe mother initiative will get free insecticide treated mosquito nets, HIV/AIDS screening, tetanus injection and routine immunisation.

    “Other benefits include free diagnostic tests, a monthly incentive of N3,000 from the point of registration into the programme which will last for two months after delivery,’’ Agbedi said.

    Mrs Happiness Mass, Director, Reproductive Health in the ministry, also advised pregnant women on the importance of the initiative programme.

    Mass said some of the reasons for the high infant and maternal mortality rate include infection of the newborn.

    She said that the infection occurs especially around the stump of the umbilical cord and excessive bleeding during child birth.

    She added that the ministry was collaborating with relevant stakeholders to adopt a flexible approach to the routine immunisation of children.

    Dr Ebikapaye Okoyen, the Programme Manager, Saving One Million Lives for Result, an NGO, said other benefits of enrolees in the programme include a N2,000 package at point of registration.

    Okoyen added that a delivery kit after child birth was also included among other items.

    Mr Chris Odi, the Chairman of the Sensitisation Committee, said the committee would work hard to spread the safe motherhood message, using the local dialects of the people for effect.