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Tag: Ekeremor local government area

  • Day Dickson became first governor to access local govt by road

    Their joy is boundless and their celebration endless. The people of Ekeremor Local Government Area will eternally remain grateful to Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson. A road project that seemed insurmountable has been made possible by Dickson and his Restoration Government.

    If they were told before the advent of Dickson’s government that they would access their community by road in 2018, they would have described it as impossible with reasonable level of certainty. They had grown weary of such promises.

    The Sagbama-Ekeremor Road has been on the drawing board for over 40 years. Most people died in expectation that one day they could travel to Ekeremor by road without sailing the waterways.

    Late former political leader, Chief Melford Okilo, mounted pressure on the Federal Government to construct the road. Despite his efforts, he died without any significant work done on the project.

    In 1993, the Oil Minerals Producing and Development Commission (OMPADEC), which later became the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded the road project valued then at N888m. The commission reportedly paid 50 per cent of the money to a contractor, who disappeared with the money.

    The project, which was inherited by NDDC sat in limbo throughout the administrations of late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeiseigha, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who later relocated to the Presidency and Chief Timipre Sylva. Even Jonathan in spite of all his powers and influence showed no interests in developing the Bayelsa three senatorial roads including the Sagbama-Ekeremor road until he was kicked out of the presidency.

    But Dickson prove everybody wrong when he vowed to complete the Western Senatorial Road project. After taking over the project from NDDC, he first took  the road to Toru-Orua, his hometown in Sagbama. He then stretched the road, which is about 100km to Aleibiri, the first Ekeremor community.

    In December 2017, the governor told the people of Ekeremor Town, where the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri comes from, that December 2019 would mark the end of traveling to their area by speedboats. He promised to hit their town with the road. Though some persons doubted it, others who observed the governor’s commitment on the road project exercised faith on the promise.

    Doubters had their reasons. First, is the terrain? It has not been easy bulldozing the swampy mangrove forest and sand-filling it to create a road. But Dickson defied the terrain palaver. He lived up to his promise and ensured that the people of Ekeremor traveled to their communities by road to celebrate the Yuletide.

    In December, to prove that Dickson kept his words, the governor’s aides, observing that their boss was not disposed following the death of his mother, arranged a convoy of vehicles and plied the road to Ekeremor Town.

    Though it triggered some excitement, the residents’ joy was limited because Dickson was not part of the trip. They wanted to see their governor, who mustered the courage and the political will to tread the path that others dreaded.

    Little wonder all the communities in Ekeremor were shut down recently following the decision of the governor to inspect the progress of the road and make an entry into Ekeremor by road. In fact, January 14th would remain indelible in the minds of the people of Bayelsa West. On that day, Dickson became the first governor since the creation of Bayelsa to access Ekeremor main town by road. Also, December 2018 was historic since it was the day, the first vehicle hit Ekeremor main town by road.

    The governor did not give prior notice days before embarking on the journey. He only woke up that day and muted the idea. He wanted to visit the community by road and inspect the ongoing work. No ceremony was intended. But immediately the idea dropped from his lips, it went viral, spreading across all nooks and crannies of the state. Dickson was surprised at the preparations that followed the short notice.

    Sons and daughters of Ekeremor within and outside Bayelsa quickly got ready and assembled their vehicles to join the governor in the historic trip. Dickson’s aides and all structures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mobilised for the trips. An endless convoy of various sizes and shapes of vehicles soon lined the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road and waited to queue behind the governor and his entourage.

    As the governor, his wife, Rachel and his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd) joined the convoy, the memorable journey started. It was a happy occasion. The communities along the road were already in merriment. Residents of each community dotting the road to Ekeremor town came out en masse and lined up to wave at the governor.

    Some of them drummed and danced as the endless convoy navigated the road. School children ran out of their classrooms to catch glimpses of their governor and vehicles. Some of them saw a vehicle for the first time in their lives. In fact, the people of Angalabiri, Ofoni, Ayamasa and Aleibiri trooped out en masse to give Dickson fleeting welcome. But it was just a tip of the iceberg.

    When Dickson eventually entered Ekeremor town, the jubilation almost went wild. A crowd of people had taken over the the entire town. All the homes emptied into the streets to receive Dickson. They laid red carpets for him to walk on. It was, indeed, a triumphant entry beyond his expectation.

    Women wore their best wrappers and blouses. They sang and danced various renditions of Ijaw songs. Children rushed out in their numbers to behold a line of endless vehicles that came into their town.

    Community leaders, elders, Chiefs and their traditional rulers floated red-carpet receptions for Dickson. Cacophony of voices wafted from different parts of the crowd calling the governor names such as Ofurumapepe (the great white shark), countryman governor and Talk na do (talk and do) with some offering him a third term.

    Without mincing words, the road, though not completed, means a lot to them. Hitherto, they could only access their area by water. To cut down on the number of hours it took them to get to Ekeremor by water transport, some of them halved the journey by road through Bomadi in Delta State and completed the rest by water. Water transport is generally replete with dangers following the activities of sea robbers, Pirates, kidnappers and other maritime criminals. The significance of the road explained their joy.

    A former Chairman of Ekeremor Local Government Area, Dein Benadomene described the road as liberation to the people. He said: “It’s a great joy to the people. It is liberation to the people. It is freedom to the people. For the past 40 years, we have been fighting to see that it is done. But today, Governor Dickson made it possible”.

    Also, the Chairman of Bayelsa State Project Monitoring Board, Dio Wenabiri, said Ekeremor had become an urban city following the road construction. He said the road would improve commercial activities and reduce travel time.

    He said: “Ekeremor is no longer riverine. You can now drive down to Ekeremor. The road will impact positively on many activities including trading. You are aware that before this time, you travel all through Delta State down to Ekeremor main town. But now between one hour or less, you can drive down to Ekeremor.

    “We have been monitoring the project from site clearing to where we are and it is still ongoing. We believe that we will continue to monitor, until the project is completely finished. They are on the site working, before the end of this year, they will complete the stone base”.

    The crowd first followed Dickson to the palace of their Paramount ruler, Chief Agbodo Gbaseimo. The king was elated that he lived to see a road linking his kingdom. He showered praises on the governor for keeping faith with his electoral promise and assured him of the people’s continued support.

    On behalf of the Ekeremor Council of Chiefs, the joyful monarch conferred on the governor the chieftaincy title of “Ebikonbowei”, which means one who brings good things. The crowd later followed the governor to the Ekeremor Civic Centre where another mammoth crowd danced and patiently waited for him.

    Dickson described the road project as strategic to the Ekeremor people and for the socio-economic development of the state and the Ijaw nation. He lamented lack of interest by the Federal Government to develop the state in spite of its huge contribution to the sustenance of the national economy.

    He said the abandonment of the Ekeremor-Sagbama Senatorial road conceived over 40 years ago was the evidence of the neglect. The governor charged the people to shun acts that were inimical to the peace and development of the area observing that Ekeremor is fast becoming an urban centre with the new road.

    All the speakers in their goodwill messages, praised the governor. The Chairman of the Restoration Caucus, Ekeremor local government area, Chief Thompson Okorotie, described Dickson as a perfectionist with an uncommon passion to development.

    Okorotie said the road and other critical projects would open up Evermoor to commercial and social activities, noting that an annual event would be chosen by the people to mark the historic feat.

    With the road and other achievements of the governor in the area, opposition political parties especially the APC may find it difficult wooing the people of the Bayelsa West for votes ahead of the general elections. The road has brighten the chances of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and increased its electoral fortunes.

    Indications that the opposition will have a tough time emerged during the governor’s visit when a cousin to the minister, Felix Lokpobiri, led 3000 members of the APC to the PDP in the area.

    Lokpobiri, a Ward Chairman of APC in Ekeremor, defected alongside other APC chieftains in the area such as Chief Godday Millionnaire, Lawrence Lokri, Jumbo Engiama and a former House of Assembly member, Isaac Oniye.

    The APC defectors said they were moved to join the PDP following the “outstanding performance of the governor” especially the construction of the Sagbama-Ekeremor road. They said their former party had nothing to offer their describing all promises APC made to them as empty.  Lokpobiri expressed excitement over the road project, boasting that with the latest defection, there was no longer any opposition in the area.

  • Proposed military houseboat unsettles Bayelsa community

    Proposed military houseboat unsettles Bayelsa community

    The people of Amatu in Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State have warned against the move by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and her contractor Saidel Nigeria Limited to influence the setting up of a military houseboat in their area.

    They aggrieved people said the proposed security facility to be sited at the boundary between the community and Bilabiri communities was to provide security for SPDC project.

    They argued that it was capable of causing tension and crisis in the area because it would generate increased security presence.

    Making their feelings known in a petition to the state government and security agencies, the people of Amatu said such huge security presence would further heighten tension between them and Bilabiri.

    In the petition which was signed by Amatu II Community Leader, Chief Paul Oweipade, the people insisted that the development was not healthy as a result of the land dispute between them and Bilabiri.

    They called on the state government to intervene and prevail on SPDC, Saidel Nigeria Limited and the people of Bilabiri to relocate their security post to the site of the project.

    They insisted that in the interest of peace, the houseboat, which traverses the land and rivers of Agbelatobo, must be located close to the project.

    Amatau said in the petition:  ”The SSAGS-SPDC Project has two components, the offshore and the onshore.

    “We are aware of plans to station a security houseboat for this project at the boundary between we Amatu II and Bilabiri II communities, and this is unacceptable to the people of Amatu II.

    “As it were, none of the benefitting communities of the onshore project has a settlement along the estuary approaching part of the Dodo River whose primary settlers are of Iduwini extractions namely, Ibegbene, Agoliyo-Ama, Ngodia-ama, Bisangbene 1, Bisangbene 2, Ikeka-ama, Aku-ama, Amatu 2, Amatu 1, Igunugbene, Pasanty-Ama, Lagos-Ama and Abadiyuo, among others.

    “We are therefore calling on concerned stakeholders in the area, the Grand Pere of Iduwini Kingdom, Ogiobo IX, the leadership of Iduwini Development Foundation (IDF), the Iduwini National Youth Body, the Iduwini Volunteer Force, the Dodo River Regional Development Board and Ijaw Youth Council (Iduwini chapter) as a matter of urgency to wade into the matter to avoid plunging communities located along the Dodo River into another communal crisis.

    “We are constrained to make these complaints because we will not allow any security apparatus in the disguise of providing security for their companies and cronies to suppress our people, which we shall resist with the last drop of our blood.”

     

  • Growing discontent over Bayelsa’s deep seaport

    Growing discontent over Bayelsa’s deep seaport

    Determined to make Bayelsa a developed state, Governor Seriake Dickson pledged to establish the Agge Deep Seaport in Ekeremor Local Government Area. At an estimated cost of over $3 billion, the project will be beneficial to, not only the Agge people, but also the state and the entire Niger Delta. SHOLA O’NEIL and MIKE ODIEGWE write that the Agge community is angry with the government for considering no member of the community worthy to be among the 14-member committee set up to oversee the project.

    At an estimated cost of over $3billion (about N1.1 trillion), the Agge Deep Seaport project in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, is a massive investment layout for, not only the Agge people, but also for the state and the entire Niger Delta.

    With the gigantic constructions which it is expected to commence with when the project gets off the drawing board, the state government is laying a very strong base for the economic development of the tiny, very rich but mostly underdeveloped state.

    The dream inched further towards becoming a reality recently when Governor Seriake Dickson inaugurated a 14-member committee for the project. Governor Dickson had mooted the idea of the deep sea port since 2012, shortly after his inauguration, and while inaugurating the ‘wise-men’ for the project, he said some sort of operation would surely commence before the February, 2020 terminal date of his administration.

    He said: “All I want to see before the end of my tenure on February 14, 2020, is that, some commercial port-related activities should have started in that seaport.  That is why it has become necessary to put this team together.

    “Already, a lot of work has been done.  But going forward, it is the intention of the government to create a formal platform beyond this team either by way of a state corporation, which will be established by a bill that I intend to send to the State House of Assembly. Or, we get the Agge Seaport Development Company registered as a corporate entity that will run the actual management of the assets of that company.”

    However, “the road to hell”, as the saying goes, “is paved with good intention”. It is very clear that Dickson and the present government that he leads mean well for the people in general and Agge people in particular. But he and his team might have stepped forward with the wrong foot, if the seething disenchantment from the host communities is anything to go by.

    The 14-member committee headed by Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Ewhurjakpor, included several known indigenes of the state, retired military officers, representatives of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and others.

    Ironically, the list, much to the chagrin of Agge leaders, did not include any member of their communities, who have already given up 15,000 hectares of land, excluding the 15,000 more that the state government has asked the Nigerian Army to survey for it.

    It was not surprising; therefore, that shortly after the state government announced the composition of a committee for the project, the leaders of Agge expressed their displeasure at their alleged neglect and non-involvement in the committee. The traditional ruler of Agge, His Royal Highness (HRH) D. G Isiayei, who praised the initiative, lamented that the communities only learnt about the constitution of the committee on the pages of newspapers.

    The monarch spoke with The Nation’s Niger Delta Report shortly after an emergency meeting of the kingdom, which was convened to find a way to deal with the announcement and their perceived neglect.

    He said: “It is a thing of joy for development to come to this area; we are a major oil-producing community and our land is blessed to be located in a place suitable for this project. We are also grateful to the governor for choosing Agge for this project. Our joy at the project should not deprive us of our rights; nobody should do that to us.”

    Isiaye, who, along with six prominent leaders of Agge, later wrote an open letter to Governor Dickson, regretted the attempt to ‘cut the hair of the Agge people without their knowledge and on their behalf’.

    The letter to Governor Dickson, a copy of which was made available to our reporter noted: “Your Excellency, it is important to inform you that the Agge people have only learnt about this mouth-watering Agge Deep Seaport Project from  the  pages  of  newspapers from its conception to the stage of commencing operation in 2020.

    “In a capsule, we have not been carried along. We have been treated as total strangers to the project while we shall be the people to provide the land for this laudable project,” the monarch who signed the document along with Chairman and Secretary of Agge, Chief Arthur Benidiwei and Dhemeon Wuka respectively stated.

    Nevertheless, prior to the announcement, the state government had released N230 million to a consultant, while the Nigerian Army was carrying out survey of 15,000 hectares of land that are required for the project, including the port and other ancillary facilities.

    Reacting to this, the Agge leaders said: “It was also in the Newspaper that we got to know that the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps shall undertake the survey of 15,000 hectares of our land. The Army came to Agge and its Federated Communities stayed with us and surveyed the land and left. We later read in the newspaper of June 6, 2013 how the head of the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps, General Funso Owonibi, presented his survey reports to you.

    “No recourse whatsoever was made to us the landowners who are prepared to give you the land for this laudable project,” the letter stressed.

    No doubt, the Agge Deep Seaport is a laudable project, with an industrial park, fabrication yard, dry dock, jetty, outfield chemical plant and tank farm. It will also incorporate cement and bagging plants, port housing complex, forward operations base (FOB), container terminal, schools, steel pipe rolling mill, scrapping centres and hospital, among others, which would be powered by a 500 Megawatts power plant.

    However, the growing discontentment in the handling of the project could spell doom for its success, even before a brick is laid.

    Speaking with our reporter, the monarch noted that land is a scarce community in the area, because of its location.

    “If we are giving out so much land for this project, the least they should do is let us know what they are doing with the land.

    “We are farmers, fishermen and business people and land is essential in all of these business ventures; to take that much land and not carry us along, without hearing our pains, hopes and expectation is not good because we have to survive and our survival is tied to our land,” he said.

    Speaking in the same manner, Benediwei, who is the Chairman of Agge and its Federated Communities and the Chairman of the five-man Agge Land Committee appointed by Isiayei to handle the land required by the Bayelsa State Government for the Agge Deep Seaport, warned, “it will be wrong for the Agge people to be treated as strangers for the same project and completely taken for granted.

    “The Governor just appointed the Agge Deep Seaport Project Implementation Committee and our perusal of the members revealed coldly that no single Agge person was included in the picture for the same Agge Deep Seaport that we shall be providing 15,000 hectares of land. I know for sure that the Governor will still require land for the forward operation base (FOB).”

    He said it was important for the Agge Land Committee “to meet with Governor Dickson and the Commissioner for Land and Survey because there is so much to discuss moving forward. The average Agge man and we the members of the Land Committee do not understand what is actually going on with the Agge Deep Seaport Project.

    “While the Agge Deep Seaport Project will surely bring about development, it will make no sense if the Agge man is under-developed because of the Deep Seaport Project. Our land is precious to us and same for our maritime endowment.  We want to be on the same page with the Governor to succeed with the Agge Deep Seaport Project by February, 2020.”

    Investigations by our reporter revealed that the protest letter might be the first of an avalanche that could soon flood the state as soon as the project begins to gain traction. There are no assurances though that the others to come, particularly those by the youth of the area, would be as peaceful as those of their leaders.

    “We are watching what our leaders are doing; we respect them and we trust in their ability to handle the issue to a logical conclusion. But there is always a limit to every man’s patience and tolerance. This is a project that will impact on our lives; we want that impact to be positive and not to impoverish us,” one of the youth leaders of the town, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told our reporter on telephone.

    Meanwhile, the government explained that the community is represented in the 14-member Project Implementation Committee for the Development of Agge Deep Seaport.  The Commissioner for Works, Mr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said the committee was the only major step so far taken by the government to begin a process of realising the project.

    “A son of Agge, Stanley Braboke, is a member of the project verification committee. How else do they want to be carried along? We are not really doing much now. We have been conducting studies. It is now that we want to start doing something.

    “There is a proposed road leading to Agge; after that there will be a stakeholders’ meeting. Experts are the ones conducting the studies. I have gone to visit them for about six times. We have not gotten to the stage where they will be involved in the day-to-day activities of the project”, he assured.

     

  • Excitement as road links Bayelsa community to civilisation

    Excitement as road links Bayelsa community to civilisation

    It is an unprecedented feat. A road to Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, after 40 years of waiting in traumatic vain, is worth the celebration. In fact, Governor Seriake Dickson, rode to Ekeremor on Saturday last week. He is the first person in history to have accessed the local government area by land.

    Dickson could be considered for the Guinness Book of Records. He has done what many politicians in Bayelsa, who occupied a similar position and even higher privileged state and national offices before him failed to do for the people of Bayelsa. It was a moment of inexplicable joy. People residing along the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road saw vehicles drive into their communities for the first time.

    Though the project has not been completed, bulldozing the swampy mangrove forest to create a road and sand-filling it from Toru-Orua, where the asphalt base has so far terminated, to Aleibiri in Ekeremor, gives an indication that the road which targets Ekeremor Town in the first phase, will soon be completed for the usage of all kinds of vehicles.

     

    Significance of the road

    The Sagbama-Ekeremor Road is one of the three senatorial roads in the state. It is designed to connect all the communities in the Bayelsa West Senatorial District. Other big ticket senatorial road projects in the state are Yenagoa-Oporoma-Koluama Road to link the Central Senatorial District and Ogbia-Nembe-Brass Road  for the East Senatorial District. All of them are conceived and designed to link the state capital and all communities to the sea, where the wealth of the state is believed to be domiciled.

    The main objective of the Sagbama-Ekekremor project is to hit Agge, a riverine community that lies on the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in Agge that the government has proposed to establish the deep seaport project. From the inception of his administration in 2012, Dickson has continued to emphasise the importance of linking Bayelsa to the sea through three flanks, the three senatorial roads.

    In fact, the Sagbama-Ekeremor road project has been on the drawing board since 1979. Late former political leader, Chief Melford Okilo, mounted pressure on the Federal Government to construct the road. But he could not live to see any significant work done on the project.

    In 1993, the Oil Minerals Producing and Development Commission (OMPADEC), which metamorphosed into the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded the road project valued then at N888m. The commission reportedly paid 50 per cent of the money to a contractor, who fled with the money.

    The project, which was inherited by NDDC sat in limbo, remained in its abandoned state throughout the administrations of late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeiseigha, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who later relocated to the Presidency and Chief Timipre Sylva. People were miffed that former President Jonathan showed no interest in the three senatorial roads including the Sagbama-Ekeremor until he was booted out of office.

    Dickson, however, toed a different path. He remained adamant that the three senatorial roads were essential ingredients to the development of the state. Dickson was the brains behind the eventual completion of the Ogbia-Nembe Road in the eastern flank of the state.

    The Ogbia-Nembe road, a joint project of NDDC and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was abandoned by the contractor until Dickson gave the firm N3bn cheque to return to site. He has also not abandoned the Yenagoa-Oporoma-Koluama road in the central flank. In fact, the central senatorial road has been constructed up to Igebiri and sand-filled close to Oporoma.

    But the governor has vigorously pursued the completion of the Sagbama-Ekeremor road in his Western Senatorial District. After taking over the project from NDDC, he first constructed the road to Toru-Orua, his hometown in Sagbama. All kinds of vehicles can now drive to Toru-Orua, a community that was hitherto only accessible through water.

    Sand-filling of the road, which is about 100km has been done up to Aleibiri, a community in Ekeremor. Special vehicles with capacity to maneuver sand can now be driven to Aleibiri. The governor and his entourage used such special vehicles like Hilux vans to inspect the project up to its terminal point.

    The Sagbama-Ekeremor road was awarded at the cost of N30bn to both Dantata-Sawoe and Setraco?. The terrain is the most difficult as it cuts across mangrove forest, rivers, rivulets and swamps. There are two major bridges to be constructed from Aleibiri to Ekeremor main town which is the section of the road project handled by Setraco.

    There is no gainsaying the importance of the road to the communities in Ekeremor. The local government area can only be accessed by water. To cut down on the number of hours it takes to get to Ekeremor by water transport, some persons halve the journey by road through Bomadi in Delta State and complete the rest by water. Water transport is generally replete with dangers following the activities of sea robbers, Pirates, kidnappers and other maritime criminals.

    Little wonder, the communities were thrown into jubilation when they saw the vehicles of the governor and his entourage. The people of Angalabiri, Ofoni, Ayamasa and Aleibiri trooped out en masse to give Dickson a rousing welcome.

    Excited communities linked by the Sagbama-Ekeremor road such as Angalabiri, Ofoni, Ayamasa and Aleibiri in Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas, came out en masse to cheer the governor and his entourage. Women wore their best wrappers and blouses. They sang and danced various renditions of Ijaw songs.

    Children rushed out in their numbers to behold line of endless vehicles that came into their communities. Community leaders, elders, Chiefs and their traditional rulers floated red-carpet receptions for Dickson. At each community, residents received their governor and gave him gifts. He is their hero.

    The people of Alaebiri were particularly happy. To them, the governor had fulfilled one of the promises he made to them when he visited their community by water during the last electioneering. The governor graciously told them that next time he would come to their community, it would be by road.

    Excited Dickson addressed the communities in Ijaw dialect. He promised to fully complete the road in December 2018. He thanked the people for their reception and show of love. He said the road project was part of the fulfillment of his campaign promise in 2012.

    He said it was one of the three Senatorial road projects he promised to deliver in order to open up the state from three flanks. He assured them that ?by December all manner of vehicles would travel along the road. Dickson directed the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure to make his promise a reality saying he would be coming back during the yuletide season.

    He said the need to connect communities in the state to the capital Yenagoa necessitated the construction of the three senatorial roads. He assured them of the commitment of his government to improve on their living conditions, adding that the few communities around the area that were yet to be connected to the national grid would soon be hooked up.

    Dickson said: “This road is very beneficial not just to this local government or this senatorial district, it is very important to this state. It is important to the Ijaw nation, the Niger Delta and to Nigeria because all the communities across the other side of the River is Delta State as you all know.

    “So, this road connects so many communities and peoples cutting across the local government. It is important so, I want to get it delivered before the end of my tenure.

    Dickson was accompanied on the tour by some ?eminent personalities including the former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Murktar Shagari, who also expressed surprise at the boldness of the governor to construct the road in a difficult terrain.

    He said even though it was obvious recession slowed ?down the work, the governor must be given kudos for continuing with it even with the persistent economic hardship in the country.

    Shagari said:  “When the people of Bayelsa have a person that is completely selfless, that believes in development and opening up the Niger Delta area to the world, they should count themselves fortunate”.

    The people believe that the road when completed would fast-track development and increase economic activities in their areas. They vowed to continue supporting Dickson and his administration for transforming and developing their areas. Most of them said they would never forget the governor.

    The Spokesman for the Aleibiri Federated Communities said since 1979 during the second republic under Chief Melford Okilo that the road was conceived, no administration was able to execute it.

    He said: “It is in this context that when in 2012 you came on board and announced the take over of the project and your desire to go all out to construct the road, not many thought that it would ever see the light of the day.

    “Today, you have shamed the doubting Thomas, the cynics, the political jabbers and all those who have over the years played politics with this critical economic road. We lack words to appreciate you for what you have done for us as a people. You have wiped away our tears, you have made us feel that we are part of this country”.

    Indeed, Dickson has given politicians in the state especially the ones from the western part of Bayelsa a run for their money. Most of them, occupied positions of authorities but added no value to the development of the state.

    The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, is among the prominent politicians from Ekeremor. Many people believe that Lokpobiri, a former speaker and two-time senator, may lose his political relevance if he for the first time drive to his community on a road built by Dickson, his avowed political enemy. The governor is fast rising to becoming an indisputable political leader, a rallying point to the people.

    Though some persons accuse Dickson of paying much attention to his senatorial district, others reply them by citing examples of projects including road infrastructure executed by the governor in areas other than his senatorial district.

    Besides, they argued that if former President Goodluck Jonathan had used his position as a deputy governor, governor, Vice-President and President to attend to the infrastructural needs of his Eastern Senatorial District, that area would have reduced the burden of governing and developing Bayelsa.

    Dickson’s efforts have attracted the admiration and commendations from unusual quarters. A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Tokpo Coronation, praised the governor saying he was doing well in the area of road construction.

    He said: “Much as we see all the faults of governor Dickson and criticise him as l also do, we should be bold and objective enough to encourage him where he is trying.

    Take it or leave it, Dickson is doing relatively well in the area of road construction, linking the communities in the Sagbama/Ekeremor axis. You may say he is doing it only for his area, yes, but if every past governor had done same, Southern Ijaw, Nembe-Brass, Ogbia and others would since have been linked by roads.

    “There is nothing that brings physical development to a place like connecting them with roads to the metropolitan centres. The next is electricity.

    “Thank you Dickson for giving hope to the communities in Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas of driving to Yenagoa by road, thereby avoiding the scourge of sea piracy and other maritime crimes.

    “Most of those communities now being linked by road didn’t hope to see motorable roads in their communities in their life time. Some of the old men and women may have seen cars for the first time in their lives”.

  • Bayelsa Govt. condemns attack on JTF, commiserates with military on deaths

    Bayelsa Govt. condemns attack on JTF, commiserates with military on deaths

    The Bayelsa government has condemned the recent ambush and killing of members of a military security patrol team by unknown gunmen around Letugbene Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls the armed men suspected to be militants had on Aug. 28 ambushed a security boat operated by the Joint Military Task Force.
    The attack left two crew members dead, a soldier and a civillian.
    Spokesman of the Joint Task Force deployed to the Niger Delta, Major Ibrahim Abdullahi had on Friday confirmed the death of a soldier and civillian crew member in the attack.
    The government in a statement, issued by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Jonathan Obuebite expressed regret over the unfortunate incident.
    Obuebite described the incident as unwarranted, barbaric and totally unacceptable.
    He said that information available to the government indicated that the attack on the JTF was not hinged on any provocation or contending issues.
    He said that the incident was purely an act of criminality, adding that it was deliberately carried to rubbish the security and peace efforts of Gov. Seriake Dickson led administration.
    The information commissioner expressed the sympathy of the state government to the immediate families of deceased and the Nigerian Army.
    He, therefore, called for a thorough investigation of the incident so as to unravel the circumstances surrounding the unprovoked attack.
    Obuebite said the probe of the incident would ensure that everybody found guilty of involvement in any form was brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others.
    “To us, this incident is politically motivated and sponsored by some persons in high places to heat up the state for their selfish interests.
    “And as a government, we will not fold our arms and allow a few individuals to rubbish the peace and security we have been able to bring to our state.
    “We will support the security agencies in whichever way possible in carrying out their investigations in this matter,” he said.
    Obuebite said that the state government would resist every move by mischief makers to take the state back to its inglorious past.

  • Militants kill four soldiers, civilian in Bayelsa

    Militants kill four soldiers, civilian in Bayelsa

    Gunmen suspected to be militants have ambushed and killed four soldiers and a civilian along the waterways of Letugbene, Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.

    Multiple security sources confirmed that a team of soldiers returning from Letugbene community on Monday became victims of an ambush laid by armed youths believed to be militants.

    It was gathered that the militants overpowered the soldiers, seized their arms, moved them to a location in the creeks and shot them dead.

    While one of the civilians, a boat driver was said to have escaped, the only survivor of the attack reportedly jumped into the water before he was shot by the hoodlums.

    An Ijaw youth leader and Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Central Zone, Mr. Tare Porri, who confirmed the development condemned the killing of the soldiers describing it as bizarre and unprovoked.

    Porri said they were killed in cold blood adding that his zonal leadership would meet on Thursday (today) to discuss the issue and other problems affecting the zone.

    He was, however, worried that the action of the suspected militants had pushed the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe (ODS) to begin a military operation in Letugbene and Ebelabiri.

    He said residents in the area accused the military of burning down houses and destroying properties in the operation launched to fish out the perpetrators.

    He said: “Two days ago, four military officers were killed in cold blood alongside other civilians. Military officers went to Letugbene community and on their way back, some persons accosted them and killed all of them.

    “Only one of them escaped. Military, yesterday morning retaliated, invaded the communities and burnt down houses. The operations are still ongoing and it is spreading to other communities like Ebelabiri.

    Also a security commander, who confirmed the murder of soldiers, lamented rising cases of killing of security agents and said measures must be adopted to stop the trend.

    “Security operatives are now endangered species. It is unacceptable the way security agents, are killed by people they dedicated their lives to protect. In Bayelsa, policemen, civil defenders and soldiers are constantly killed. It is barbaric”, the commander, who spoke in confidence said.

    A police source, who also spoke in confidence, said only soldiers were killed in the attack adding that the civilian attached to the soldiers escaped.

    Efforts to get responses from the Commander, JTF, Rear Admiral Suleiman Apochi, yielded no results as he failed to reply to text messages sent to him on the matter.

  • Four feared dead in Bayelsa

    Four feared dead in Bayelsa

    Four members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were feared dead while returning from the party’s ward congress in Ekeremor local government area of the state.

    They were said to have died when their boat capsized along the Ekeremor waterways.

    Former Deputy Governor, Peremobowei Ebebi, was said to be among the occupants of the ill-fated boat but he was reportedly rescued.

    Though details of the ugly incident were still sketchy at the time of filling this report, the victims were said to be returning from Ekeremor when the incident occurred.

    President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson participated in the congresses, which held in the 105 wards of the 18 local government councils of the state.

    Jonathan and Dickson asked party members to maintain peace ahead of political activities in the state.

    Jonathan arrived the state on Friday evening and held marathon meetings with stakeholders at the State Government House and his house along the Nikton road area of the state capital.

    He was reported to have called on aspirants and party leaders to maintain peace during the ward congress in the state.

    Jonathan was said to have later moved to his ward headquarters in Otuabadi in Ogbia local government area of the state to partake in the exercise.

    Dickson, who participated in the Option A4 voting during the ward delegate election at ward 2 in Angalabiri community of Sagbama local government area, commended the party faithful for their peaceful disposition.