Tag: hails

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has hailed the efforts of the people of Amatu and Ogbolomabiri in Ekeremor and Nembe local government areas for securing the release of two hostages, including a French national, abducted by suspected kidnappers.

The governor praised the leaders of Bassambiri in Nembe as well as Azuzuama, Lobia 1 and 2, Koluama and Ekowe in Southern Ijaw local government areas for their collaborative efforts with security agencies.

Dickson said: “The chiefs and people of Ogbolomabiri community, on suspecting the presence of kidnappers and their victims, conducted a house- to-house search and secured the release of the victim. They alerted the police, who got the kidnappers arrested.

“In Amatu community, the boat conveying the suspected kidnappers and their victims developed a mechanical fault, which left the boat drifting along the river.

“On sighting one of the victims, who was a white man, curious members of the community alerted the state’s internal security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo, who swung into action and got both the captors and the captive arrested.

“Some cohorts of the apprehended criminals went to the community for reprisal, but were prevented from causing any harm by the security outfit deployed to the community by the government.”

The governor urged other communities and stakeholders to emulate them, stressing that such efforts, if properly coordinated in collaboration with the security agencies, would curb criminality, lawlessness and other vices associated with the state.

He said: “Nobody in this state, no matter where you are and what you do, should feel that matters of security are for government alone. No, you are getting it wrong.

“Security of your life and property should be a collective business all the time. This we must do conscientiously, so that we can attract tourists and investors to create jobs for our youths.”

Governor Dickson enjoined youths to jettison acts of criminality and take advantage of the youth development, empowerment and rehabilitation programmes to reshape their lives and become useful members of their families, communities and the state.

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday attributed the peace enjoyed in the state to the dedication and gallantry of policemen.

He spoke at the inauguration of a 50-bed Police Hospital at the Police Command Headquarters in Eleiyele, Ibadan, the state capital.

Ajimobi said before he assumed office, the state was a theatre of war, with violence, thuggery and brigandage reigning supreme.

He said: “You will recall that as at May, 2011, Oyo State was perhaps the state of lawlessness of nature propounded by Thomas Hobbes in his famous treatise. For a state that had hitherto been labeled dirty and unplanned, the addition of a lawless state of brigandage was a heavy blow to our people.

“Many of our people were killed mercilessly in crossfire as if we were in a state of war. Anyone who identified him or herself outside the state as hailing from Oyo State was perceived to be part of the violent order.”

Recalling the murder of a final year medical student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Mallam Shanono and others in June, 2011, Ajimobi expressed happiness that his administration, in partnership with the police, has eradicated the era of violence.

He said: “We have taken governance beyond the violence and chaos that we inherited, through the cooperation of the officers and men here seated. We are proud of you. We promise to continue the regular consultations and offer logistic support to the Police Force.”

Praising the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), M. D. Abubakar, for his security innovations and improved welfare packages for officers and men of the Force.

The governor said: “The IGP has made this the epicenter of his administration’s policies. This has led to a more robust policing, an effective and efficient Police Force and officers and men who take pride in their profession.

“The innovations have improved the public’s perception of the police, thus increasing police/public relations.

“By establishing a clinic that will cater for their health and that of their families, policemen can put their all into defending the people since their interest is being taken care of back at home. This will ginger policemen to go to the zenith of their ability and devote greater energy to protecting life and property.”

Abubakar urged those in positions of authority to always treat their subordinates with dignity.

He said: “My belief is that health is wealth. No officer can deliver his constitutional duties efficiently and effectively without being physically and medically fit.”

Abubakar said the hospital would be replicated in other police formations across the country.

Ghanaian President John Mahama has described Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio as a good example of leadership in Africa.

Mahama, who was accompanied by Ghanaian Ambassador to Nigeria, Baba Kamara and Information Minister Felix Ofosu Kwakye, said this yesterday when he visited the governor in Uyo.

Mahama said: “It takes leadership to bring about transformation.

“Governor Akpabio is not a visitor to Ghana. When he visited me, he presented a book entitled ‘Uncommon Transformation’.

“From my visit today and what I have seen on ground through the numerous projects indicate a testimony of what true leadership can do to transform the lives of the people.

“I am impressed by what I have seen today in the state.

“Africa is changing and transforming. We are experiencing positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth compared to the 80s, when the economies were contracting and growing negatively.

“Africa needs a new leadership to grow into development.

“You can have growth without transformation. It takes leadership to bring about development. Akwa Ibom is an example of good leadership.”

Akpabio said Ghana and Nigeria have a long rich history.

He enjoined Akwa Ibom businessmen to partner Ghanaian businessmen.

“Let’s integrate the economy of both countries for growth.”

THROUGH its Osun State chapter, the Action Congress of Nigeria(APC) has congratulated the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for reaching a consensus on the design, choice and release of the party’s logo and flag.

The ACN state Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, who through a statement described the development as “a positive reassurance that the APC’s leadership is not only serious, but also determined to subsume their individual interests for the collective good of the country.”

The party described what the leadership of the APC had achieved in so short a time as a huge step forward in actualising the dream of Nigerians to develop a formidable alternative to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and save the country from collapse.

The statement reads: “This is the first time in the history of Nigeria where different political parties will go beyond an alliance to fuse into one powerful entity to confront a ruling class that has a history of leading Nigeria disastrously.

“However, Nigerians are following with keen interest how the new party is evolving and the body language of its leadership which is building confidence in Nigerians that after all, all is not lost yet.”

The party called on the leadership of the co0llaborating parties to intensify their efforts and be prepared to make greater sacrifices, so that “our great country can be saved from the vice-grip of the PDP that has almost turned Nigeria into a failed state.”

In the alliance are the ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria People Party (ANPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said his concern and principle against corruption and other negative tendencies in the polity have earned him abuses from several quarters.

Speaking with reporters at the Edo State Government House ahead of the first Dr. Abel Guobadia Memorial Lecture, where he would be the guest speaker, the former president said he had shouted himself hoarse on the twin issue of corruption and insecurity, to no avail.

Obasanjo praised the late Guobadia, a former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, describing him as one of the unsung heroes of Nigeria’s democracy.

“How many times are you going to flog this horse, I have flogged the horse of corruption, I have flogged it internally, externally, I flogged it everyday. Some people go along with me, they agree that it is a problem we have to face squarely. Some people abuse me, some people do all sorts of things, but the point is that when you have a problem and you attempt to cover it, you are not solving the problem. If anything, you are complicating the problem.

“Even security, I have talked about it. I have been called names. I have gone out on fact finding, I have found out what is there and what is not there. I have talked, I have reported, I have nothing more to hide.

“I now see Adams Oshiomhole, a governor, who once lived a life of radicalism, but he is now living a life of realism. But we all did that before.

“I was the head of state and I believed that there was nothing, there was no way to manage the Nigerian economy except through indigenisation, and we went out for indigenisation, but the truth is that indigenisation did not succeed the way we wanted it to succeed. So, when I had the second opportunity, when God gave me the second chance, I learnt from my past and I became an apostle of genuine private sector, direct foreign investment, free market economy.

“Now, I can see the sign in Edo. Before, the state was run down, but it is now being run up. I commend the work Governor Adams Oshiomhole is doing.”