The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kombowei Benson

  • Bayelsa denies taking fresh N40bn loan

    Bayelsa denies taking fresh N40bn loan

    The Bayelsa Government on Monday denied media reports that it was taking a fresh loan.

    Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the state Commissioner for Information, denied the reports in a statement on Monday in Yenegoa.

    Iworiso-Markson said that the state government only approached the State House of Assembly for the restructuring of repayment of the N40 billion earlier borrowed.

    He said that the request made to the state House of Assembly was for approval to restructure existing N40 billion loan so as to complete ongoing projects was not a fresh loan.

    “The request was contained in a letter dated Oct. 30 and addressed to the Speaker of Bayelsa House of Assembly, Hon. Kombowei Benson.

    “The letter sought among others, permission to restructure existing bank loans to enable the state channel more funds to projects.”

    Iworiso-Markson stressed that there was no truth in the reports

    According to Iworiso-Markson, the restructuring of the loan would enhance speedy completion of ongoing projects across the three Senatorial zones in the state like the Sagbama-Ekeremor road, Isaac Boro road and Bayelsa International Airport, amongst others.

    “The N40 billon is not a fresh loan as being speculated, rather it is aimed at restructuring already existing loan from two to four years period.

    “You know we took a loan for the airport sometime ago. So, what we are doing is that instead of paying the required over N2 billion every month, we have restructured it and the time to pay the loan has been elongated.

    “Rather than two years, we will now pay it in four years and it will be about N1 billion naira every month.

    “The other one will be given to our contractors. We don’t want to handle it ourselves because if we do, we will still spend it on other things.

    “So, we have given it to a particular bank to distribute to our contractors. So, clearly it is not a fresh loan” he said.

    The denial is coming on the heels of public outcry from labour leaders who have interpreted the restructuring of the loan to mean that government was taking new loans in addition to existing ones.

    NAN

  • Tension in Bayelsa Assembly over Speaker’s comment

    Tension in Bayelsa Assembly over Speaker’s comment

    Members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly are at daggers’ drawn with Speaker Kombowei Benson over a statement he allegedly made against President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The lawmakers were said to have expressed displeasure with the Speaker for making what they called “degrading and inciting” comments against the President.

    They reportedly held a series of secret meetings in Yenagoa, the state capital, where they discussed and condemned the Speaker’s tirade against Dr Jonathan in an interview he granted a regional tabloid.

  • Kidnappers of Bayelsa speaker’s mother-in-law want N40m

    The kidnappers of Mrs. Ogbona Orumo, the 90-year-old mother-in-law of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Kombowei Benson, have demanded N40million ransom to set her free.

    Orumo was abducted last Friday from her Seibiri compound in Korokorosei, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state by unknown gunmen.

    She was whisked away to an unknown place through the waterways by the hoodlums who never cared about her old age.

    The kidnappers have reportedly contacted the speaker and demanded the ransom.

    Traditional rulers in the state rained curses on persons behind the dastardly act especially after learning that their victim was taken away naked.

    The Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Godwin Igodo, who spent 29 days in kidnappers den last year, decried rising cases of kidnapping in the state.

    Igodo noted that kidnapping was alien to the ways of life of the Ijaw people.

    “I was a victim. I spent 29 days in the den of kidnappers under the rain and the sun last year,” he said.

    Also Benson called for the establishment of a mobile police base in Korokorosei community.

    The Speaker in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo, sympathized with his in-laws.

    He appealed to the family members to be patient, explaining that the matter has been reported to the police for action.

     

  • Bayelsa lawmakers deny defection to APC

    …Urge Jonathan to declare ambition

    Bayelsa State House of Assembly on Monday debunked speculations that 11 of its members have defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    The assembly also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his presidential ambition for 2015.

    The House was jolted by reports that 11 of its 24 members had defected to APC.

    But rising from an emergency meeting at the Assembly Quarters, Yenagoa, the lawmakers flayed the report and insisted that the assembly was intact.

    The Speaker of the House, Mr. Kombowei Benson, said all the lawmakers remained loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party, President Jonathan and the state party Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (rtd).

    Benson said they were happy at the transformation agenda of President Jonathan and the restoration programme of the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

    He said it was baseless to insinuate that lawmakers defected to APC because the former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, under whose tenure they were elected, had joined the APC.

    He said it was also premature to speculate that some lawmakers were planning to join the APC and use it as a platform to return to the assembly in 2015.

    On why 18 out of the 24 assembly members attended the emergency meeting, the speaker said some members were on medical trips while others obtained permission to stay away.

    “The reports of defection are fallacious. There is no cause for any member to think of defecting to APC. The Bayelsa State House of Assembly is intact,” he said.