The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ekeremor

  • PDP to Buratai: probe electoral violence in Bayelsa

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has appealed to the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai to investigate the violence that occurred in the state during the last general elections.

    The party alleged that some army officials directly participated in the elections and called on the military to redeem its image by probing incidents linked to them.

    Speaking at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa, the Chairman of PDP, Moses Cleopas, said the activities of the army deployed in Brass, Nembe and Southern Ijaw, should be queried by the military.

    He wondered why the army had not kept sealed lips on the killing of two PDP members without provocation by soldiers.

    Cleopas lamented that PDP members were prime targets during the elections describing situation as unhealthy.

    He further took a swipe at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, saying wondering why the commission declared constituencies won by PDP candidates inconclusive.

    Cleopas, however, described victory of some candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as temporary and vowed that his party would retrieve them in courts.

    He said PDP won all the seats in areas where proper elections were conducted while the APC allegedly manipulated the process in cohort with the military and INEC to win few seats in the state.

    The party boss said that in Nembe all PDP members were chased away from Bassambiri, where APC candidates were declared winners.

    He said: “The PDP won everywhere in Bayelsa and in places where the APC has been declared winners, we will reclaim our mandate”.

    READ ALSO: Dickson seeks probe of election violence

    In Ekeremor constituency 1, Cleopas said a chieftain of the APC invaded the area with soldiers and forced INEC field officials to alter results under duress.

    He said: The APC chieftain came with military men and doctored results and forced INEC to change results to the advantage of his party. This will not stand.

    “Nembe 2 and 3, Bassambiri was taken over by hoodlums. They chased away all PDP members from the community. Policeman who went there to maintain the peace were driven out by the APC in that area. They wrote results. There was no proper elections there.

    “In the areas declared inconclusive, in Ogbia constituency 2, we were winning before military men came and carted away materials in Otuokpoti Same in Brass constituency 2 and Southern Ijaw 4, it was pure abracadabra,” he alleged.

    “We are going back for the inconclusive polls, but a situation where armed military men were used to harass our people cannot be tolerated.”

    The PDP chairman said he had a personal experience where military men whisked away INEC officials who were just rounding off elections and named a senior military officer as the culprit.

    “It is on this note that we call on on the Chief of Army Staff to investigate the activities of his officers and men in Bayelsa because it has become recurrent that army men now chase PDP members,” he said.

  • Sagbama, Ekeremor defy rain, forego churches for Jonathan, Dickson

    The rain initially drizzled. Eventually, it got to a torrential level pounding roofs and drenching whatever and whoever stood in its way. Most people in Sagbama, the local government area of Governor Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa State ran helter-skelter scrambling for shelter.

    But many others were not afraid of the rain. They trudged along the streets and roads that criss-crossed the ancient city in search of the venue for the grand endorsement rally organised on Sunday by the Bayelsa West Senatorial District.

    The district comprising Ekeremor and Sagbama local government areas  organised what it called the mother of all rallies  to drum support for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and Governor Seriake Dickson in 2016.

    The party faithful apparently forego their churches and other worship centres to be counted among persons who gathered at the Sagbama Council Park for the event.

    Perhaps viewing the inclement weather as a shower of blessing, the political juggernauts, women of influence, youth leaders and masses from the district trooped to the event centre to take a stand for Jonathan and Dickson.

    They danced in the rains. Women dressed in Ijaw wrappers and blouses with headgears to match and different colours of beads hanging round their necks and festooned to their wrists danced in excitement.

    The district boasts of many political heavyweights and opinion leaders. Many of them were on parade that day. The Chairman, Ekeremor LGA Restoration Caucus, Chief Thompson Okorotie took the centre stage as one of the brains behind the ceremony.

    The former Acting Governor in the state and member of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Nestor Binabo; Governor’s Special Representatives, Sagbama, Mr. Collins Cocodia; his counterpart from Ekeremor, Mr. Pius Jonah and the pioneer state Chairman, PDP, Sir. Charles Dorgu, who is also the Chairman of Sagbama LGA Restoration Caucus, were in attendance.

    A member representing Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Dr. Stella Dorgu who replaced Governor Seriake Dickson in the House of Representatives after his election as governor of the state in 2012 was also there. The chairmen of Ekeremor and Sagbama local government areas, Mr. Billy Tobiyei and Mr. Willy Oyadongha, we’re also present.

    It was, indeed, a gathering of who-is-who in the senatorial district as the list was endless. The youths swarm like bees around the venue as they held many placards declaring support for their candidates.

    Okorotie who is also the Chairman, Organising Committee, Bayelsa West Senatorial District Grand Rally, went spiritual in his address. He said leaders are chosen by God and that the people are divine vessels for the actualisation of God’s will.

    “The choice of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson are products of God and we are the divine vessels for His purpose.

    “During the campaign for the first term of our son, father and leader, we told Nigerians that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan whom we are presenting to Nigeria is a good product”, he said.

    He said Jonathan’s achievements in governance bore eloquent testimony to he veracity of that statement. He said that President Jonathan had recorded landmark achievements in different sectors of the economy especially in agriculture, education, road infrastructure, investment promotion, railway transportation and power.

    He claimed that Jonathan surpassed the achievements of past presidents in all the areas he mentioned.  He gave Jonathan kudos in his war against insurgency.

    Speaking about Governor Dickson, he said the governor was a special gift to the state just as he described him as a man of uncommon courage and a restoration giant.

    He said: “A man who came on board on February 14, 2011 with a development storm that has been persistent, robust and vigorous. In only two and a half years, our son father and leader has achieved much more than has been done by any previous administrations in the state”.

    He commended the people of the district for their political sagacity and vibrancy saying they have always shown such qualities right from their days in the old Rivers State. He said their consistent support to other parts of the state was rewarded by the emergence of Dickson as the governor.

    So, the speeches rang on. The Commissioner for Education, Mr. Salo Adikumo, mounted the podium. He said Jonathan and Dickson had performed and deserved a second chance. For instance, he said Dickson had shown strength of character in education and infrastructural revolution.

    The former Deputy Governor, Mr. Peremobowei Ebebi; the Paramount Ruler of Ebedebiri Federated Communities, King Anderson Esemokumo and many other speakers took turns to mobilise support for Jonathan and Dickson.

    The highpoint of the ceremony was when Okorotie and some leaders mounted the podium and moved a motion endorsing Jonathan and Dickson for a second term. The motion was unanimously supported by everybody in attendance.

  • Kidnappers free two Nigerians

    The two Nigerians, who were kidnapped on Sunday along with three Dutch citizens in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have been freed.

    There is no news on the whereabouts of their Dutch friends.

    Sunny Ofehe, the leader of the visiting humanitarian Dutch group and Femi Soewu, a journalist, were kidnapped along with Marianne Hendrick Vox, Erhard Leffers and Jandries Groenenedij.

    Ofehe, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer,  Hope for Niger Delta Campaign, who spoke in Warri, Delta State, yesterday, said there was no ransom demand.

    He said the kidnappers’ action will send wrong signals to the international community.

    Reliving his ordeal, Ofehe said the three Dutch nationals were taken to a different location.

    His words: “Soewu and I were blindfolded till we were released. The kidnappers threatened to kill us if we remain in the Niger Delta. But I can’t leave my colleagues here.

    “It was a terrible experience. I can’t even remember all that happened. It was like a movie scene.

    “I recall that we had done everything we came there to do. We had inspected the hospitals. We were well received by the community. As we left the jetty, we started hearing gunshots.

    “They shot at the engine of our speedboats and barked orders ‘put your heads down, lie down’.

    “One of the attackers screamed: ‘Where are the white people? Where are the white men?’

    “They dragged them into the first boat we saw. I raised my head and tried to ask what was happening, the next speed boat came and they pushed me in.

    “Soewu, who also came from the Netherlands, was pushed into the second speedboat.

    “His cameras were seized. The speedboats went in opposite directions.”

    Ofehe said he didn’t see any need for escorts because this was not the first time, he would visit the community.

    “This is not the first time we would visit the community. I have never seen any reason why I should go with escorts, knowing we were coming to help the youths.

    “I didn’t expect any attack from a community we were going to help. It is rather unfortunate.  We passed a couple of Joint Task Force (JTF) checkpoints; so I figured it was safe to move around.

    “There has been no contact; no demand for ransom. This is sending a wrong signal to the international community.

    “This incident makes our job very difficult. It will be hard to get another team to visit Africa for humanitarian support.”

    When asked about his move, he said: “We want to leave here for another location because when we were released we were told to leave the Niger Delta; otherwise they would find and kill us.

    “I have assured everyone back in the Netherlands that I won’t return home, until we are complete, I owe my colleagues that much.”

  • Bayelsa youths threaten to halt oil exploration

    The ongoing exploration of the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 227 area, located at the shallow water, offshore of the western Niger Delta Basin, is under threat.

    The youths in Agge community, Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State are said to be spoiling for a showdown with the oil servicing companies operating the oil block.

    The aggrieved youngsters were said to have accused the companies of shortchanging them by diverting their employment slots in the project.

    The companies operating the exploration site are Addax Petroleum, Express Petroleum &Gas Company Limited and Petroleum Prospects International Limited.

    EPGCL and PPIL are indigeneous companies.

    The OPL227 license area is said to cover approximately 851 km(2) (210,300 acres) and is adjacent to the north-east of the Shell-operated OML79 license area.

    Addax Petroleum received a 40 per cent interest in OPL227 while Express and PPI got interests of 39 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.

    But the youths were said to have threatened to shut down the site, citing unjust allocation of employment slots.