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Tag: Obasanjo

  • Obasanjo, Atiku and vengefulness incorporated

    IN the midst of the defection conundrums inflaming the entire country into moral and political outrage, former president Olusegun Obasanjo found the sense of humour to inflict God at his old nemesis, former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Dr Obasanjo has a PhD in Theology, claims to have found God in prison, and has written a few sophomoric texts on divinity and man’s manifest destiny. So, when he brought God into his re-enacted, an indeed unending, quarrel with Alhaji Abubakar, few were surprised. It is his custom.

    A few weeks ago, in the heat of his wrangle with President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he regards as inflexible, Dr Obasanjo reportedly gave the tenuous impression he was willing to back anyone for the presidency in 2019, be he the former vice president, simply to thwart the president’s second term ambition and rub his nose in the dirt. It seemed logical. For, having described the president as lacking the capacity to lead Nigeria, and having dismissed him as incompetent and nepotistic, he has felt obligated to sustain the bitterness against the insouciant general, and perhaps too, to underscore his own self-righteousness. The putative support for Alhaji Abubakar astounded many, but few were willing to dismiss it as inconsistent with both his vengeful person and unorthodox politics.

    But after hearing from Dr Obasanjo in an interview he recently had with Premium Times, it became clear that on the matter of his support for Alhaji Abubakar’s 2019 presidential ambition, the former president spoke with tongue in cheek. Indeed, it is not unlikely that he was flabbergasted by the media twist given his so-called support for his former vice president. He never intended support, and as he swore most vigorously, certainly not for someone he was determined to nurture as an eternal enemy. Hear Dr Obasanjo: “How can I be on the same side with Atiku? To do what? If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes. But once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support. I do not have personal grudges with anyone…If you do not do well for Nigeria, you do not do well for all of us. It is not a question of working with or not working with an individual, If you are working for the good of Nigeria, I am working with you. If you are not working for the good of Nigeria, it does not matter who you are, I am not working with you. Most of you do not understand the way I operate. And I thought your own paper will understand better. I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed.”

    Then he concludes facetiously: “On a personal note, If my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not political. But on political ground, my position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him, maybe; but not now that I know him, God will not forgive me.”

    Alhaji Atiku may have sarcastically advised the former president to return to God for absolution, seeing how unforgiving he has become in the face of his Christian conscience, but it is not certain that a change of heart would be possible. Dr Obasanjo has attributed his malice to God’s wish; it is unlikely that in his theology, that same God could inveigle him into reaching some accommodation with the former vice president. There will be no such luck in moderating or extirpating his vengefulness. He will keep it to his dying day, and he seems quite pleased to sustain that position.

    Dr Obasanjo is entitled to support anyone of his choice, or to deny anyone he loathes support. Perhaps Alhaji Atiku reminds the ex-president of certain humiliations in the past, as Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka recently alluded when he spoke on the manners and foibles of the ageing but still fit former army general. If so, there will be no reconciliation, not here, not in the hereafter. If Alhaji Abubakar intends to pursue his ambition successfully, he will have to discount the influence and support of Dr Obasanjo, for the former president does not take prisoners, Christian or animist.

  • Atiku’s presidential ambition, Obasanjo and matters arising

    I am not surprised with the recent statement credited to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, that he will never support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s ambition of becoming president, because God will not forgive him if he supports the Turakin Adamawa’s aspiration of ruling Nigeria.

    Well, one thing for sure is the fact that I’m not Atiku’s

    spokesperson, that can hold brief for him, but as a concerned citizen of Adamawa State and a Nigerian, I write to set the record straight and, at the time, dissect who is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is somebody who wants to be heard. His romance with who gets the ticket of the PDP is a misnomer having torn his membership card of the party in full glare of the public.

    One thing for sure is if God destined Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former vice-president to become president, thousands of

    Chief Olusegun Obasanjo cannot stop it.

    There is nothing that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo can do to truncate the political ambition of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who has already emboldened his name as a quintessential and erudite politician that has built bridges across the cultural and religious divides of this great country.

    Atiku Abubakar is a formidable political juggernaut that does not need introduction and induction in the art of politics for the fact that whether Chief Olusegun Obasanjo supports him or not, he will sail through, especially now that he is aspiring to be the candidate of the opposition PDP for the 2019 presidential election.

    Atiku Abubakar is a quintessential politician who believes in an entrenched democracy. And it is because of this that he fought former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when he (Obasanjo) attempted to elongate his tenure in the famous third term bid.

    The man known as Atiku Abubakar is somebody with a large heart that accommodates all and sundry. He is very friendly with the low and the mighty on the political turf.

    It is worth mentioning that he and Titi Ajanaku, were the people who visited Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and conscripted him to join the formidable political structure called the Peoples Democratic Party to vie for the presidency after his release from the Yola Prison.

    During their first tenure, Atiku Abubakar was the wheel behind the success of Obasanjo’s administration, especially the privatisation programme.

    It is imperative to stress the point that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo cannot be a stumbling block to  the aspiration of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in whatever ramification because he is a shrewd politician that is accepted in all the parts of the country.

     

    • By Usman Santuraki, Jambutu, Jimeta-Yola.

  • Tinubu attacks Obasanjo on letters

    All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu  alleged yesterday attacked former President Olusegun Obasanjo for campaigning against President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

    He said Obasanjo was part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that ran Nigeria for 16 years without result.

    Tinubu spoke yesterday in Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State where Senator Godswill Akpabio formally joined the APC.

    He said: “APC believes in investing in the people. We are giving priority to education, infrastructural development, economic renaissance of today and tomorrow. Their old papa is writing letters, saying Buhari must not run again, because he does not know that Nigeria is now digital. No more letter-writing. People now use e-mail, WhatsApp and text messages, but Obasanjo is still writing letters that Nigeria is going bad, but it is not true. If he is a good father, he ought to have laid a good foundation like Akpabio did in Akwa Ibom State.

    He also spoke of plots by some members of the National Assembly to impeach  Buhari.

    But the former Lagos State governor, he warned the plotters to drop their sinister move because it is not “possible for a lizard to race with an antelope’’.

    Tinubu described events in the country now as a war between progressives and the conservatives.

    “We believe in government of the people, for the people and by the people but the conservatives believe in government of sharing.

    “We say Nigerian money belongs to Nigerians. We say Nigerians must be given development. We believe in investing in the people.

    “But they believe in sharing and looting the money.

    “Today we are aspiring in our vision, but the PDP has no vision. They believe in sharing and looting the treasury.’’

    Nigerians, he said, gave PDP 16 years to rule but the party failed.

    “Today, Buhari says we must change; we must account for Nigeria’s money but they are resisting.’’

    Tinubu is happy that Akwa Ibom has embraced the change.

    With the present posture of the state, it “shall sweep the evil out with the broom”, he said.

    Quoting the Bible, Tinubu, a Muslim, said: “The evil in the city shall be swept away with brooms.’’

    He praised Akpabio’s wife Ekaete for her resilience and steadfastness in her support for her husband.

    Tinubu said: “Oshiomhole is second to none. He is the most brilliant and the most visionary politician I have known. He is a committed individual and we work together.

    “Akwa Ibom State experienced infrastructural development when Akpabio was governor, which is due to vision, not religion. This is broom revolution. Broom is to sweep evil. So, there will be no evil around you. APC is the party that will give you progress.

    “Today, we are sharing our vision. The other party, the Poverty Development Party (PDP), has no vision. For 16 years, we gave them the opportunity to change Nigeria, but they failed. They believe it’s sharing money and looting of the treasury. Buhari came with progressive ideology, for all our money to be accounted for, through TSA, it is a war between the progressives and the conservatives. It is a war of ideology.

    “Those people (PDP members) believe in sharing. We believe in the government of the people, for the people and by the plenty. They (PDP members) want to pocket Nigeria’s treasury. We are saying no. The money and development belong to the people. They were the leaders of yesterday. We are the leaders of today, tomorrow, day after and many years to come.

  • Leave Obasanjo alone, Yoruba group tells Soyinka

    The Yoruba Consultative Forum (YCF) has condemned what it called a campaign of undisguised calumny by Nobel Laurette Professor Wole Soyinka against former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos by its President, Professor Tejumade Akintoye Rhodes, YCF said: “Prof Wole Soyinka has definitely crossed the bar of decency and civilised literary grace.

    “At a time when everyone is nudging Obasanjo forward as the courageous rallying point against the present dislocations in our polity, Soyinka is salivating in some primitive laceration of the old soldier, revelling in poisonous vendetta and egregious abuse against Obasanjo.

    “In Soyinka’s warped cosmology, he insists that Obasanjo is not the fit and proper person to lead the new movement against the warped national polity. This is malicious, undignifying, spurious, a drooling mechanical twaddle bound for literary garbage.

    “Of course, Obasanjo, like all of us, is not perfect. But he is a courageous man, a superlative patriot who contends with any errant power with thorough sincerity, with masterful resolve to rectify the observable wrongs.

    “Soyinka has now eroded his once Sterling Heights of great crusader and crashed his status to a Lilliputian pamphleteer, angry at the world and pouring venom everywhere without tactical purity.”

    The group said it resolved to engage Soyinka “with balanced intellectual vigour wherever he erupts again in his crude vitriol against Obasanjo”.

    It added: “Enough is enough.”

     

  • You’ll perform as president, Obasanjo tells Lamido

    FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has hailed the bid by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido to contest for the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s)  presidential ticket.

    Obasanjo spoke yesterday when Lamido and members of his national campaign council visited him in Abeokuta, Ogun State over his 2019 presidential ambition.

    A statement by social media aide to Lamido, Mansur Ahmed, quoted the former president as saying: “As a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sule knows the world and knows how to relate with other countries of the world. I was so happy and elated by what I saw in Jigawa State when you became a governor.

    “Sule, I don’t have any doubt about your attributes, your capacity, your courage, your interest about your state and Nigeria at large. Sule, you can do it and you can do it well.”

    Lamido, why speaking on the reason behind his visit, said: “I have nothing to tell you about me because you know me more than anybody. I have come to greet you, brief you, seek for your blessings and ask for your fatherly advice.”

    The statement added that the meeting was part of the consultation with relevant stakeholders, elders, party officials and key political actors.

    The aspirant made similar visits to former military head of states Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

    Lamido visited Obasanjo last year as part of his nationwide consultations on his presidential aspiration in 2019.

    Before then, Lamido met with the PDP governors in their respective states, the 36 PDP state chairmen, including the party’s zonal vice chairmen, former Speakers, where he told them of his aspiration and urged them to pick the best for the party at the PDP national convention.

    Lamido is accompanied by his campaign’s Director-General Musa Elayo, Senator Josephine Anenih, Ambassador Joe Keshi, AIG Kayode Theophilus (rtd), Alhaji Umaru Mai Shadai, Rahman Owokoniran and Ogun State PDP Chairman.

  • Obasanjo to Atiku: God will never forgive me if I support you for president

    FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has ruled out the possibility of his support for the presidential ambition of his former deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    Obasanjo told online publication, Premium Times, in Abeokuta, that the former vice president should not count on his support in next year’s election, or at any other time.

    Atiku recently formally declared his interest to seek the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)   for the election.

    “How can I be on the same side with Atiku? To do what?,” Obasanjo asked rhetorically in response to a question during the interview.

    He added: “If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes, but once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support.”

    Obasanjo dismissed suggestions that he had personal grudges against Atiku, saying: “If you do not do well for Nigeria, you do not do well for all of us.

    “It is not a question of working with or not working with an individual.

    “If you are working for the good of Nigeria, I am working with you. If you are not working for the good of Nigeria it does not matter who you are I am not working with you.”

    Obasanjo fell out with Atiku midway into their  tenure as president  and vice president between 1999 and 2003 but managed to patch up their differences to contest the 2003 election together.

    But once they emerged winners in that election, their hostilities resumed full blast and have not  been able to mend fences ever since despite pretensions from  both sides.

    The former president recently formed what he called Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) to, in his words, rescue Nigeria from its present mess.

    The group  has since adopted a political party, African Democratic Congress, for the purpose of  realizing  its dream of a new Nigeria and take  over from President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The ADC has gone into an alliance with the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others to present a common candidate against Buhari next year.

    Asked if he would support Atiku in the event he emerged as the coalition’s candidate, Obasanjo retorted: “I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed.

    “If my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not political.

    “On political ground, my position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him, maybe, but not now that I know him, God will not forgive me.”

  • Obasanjo, Amosun eulogise late Ogun SSG, Adeyemi

    Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and the  Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, have eulogised the late former Secretary to the Ogun State Government and Head of Service, Deacon Poju Adeyemi, for his dedication to duty and commitment to the development of the state.

    Speaking at the burial service for Adeyemi, held at the Comprehensive High School field, Ayetoro, Obasanjo hailed him for his sacrifices towards what he called “project Ogun State.”

    He commended him for resigning his lucrative position in the Central Bank of Nigeria, to take up job in the newly created Ogun State in 1976.

    Obasanjo said the patriotism and leadership qualities exhibited by the deceased were outstanding and worthy of emulation.

    He enjoined the people of the state to ensure the emergence of a governor, who can continue the good works of the present administration, in the 2019 poll.

    Amosun, who described the late Adeyemi’s desire to see a Yewa man become the next governor as unwavering , assured that he is committed to making this a reality.

    He urged the people to emulate the exemplary integrity, uprightness and dedication to the right course, for which the former SSG and HoS were known.

     

  • Soyinka: Obasanjo knelt down for Atiku in 2003

    •Ex-President ‘sabotaged Bola Ige’

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo knelt down for then Vice President Atiku Abubakar in his desperate bid to secure the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2003 poll, according to Professor Wole Soyinka.

    The revelation came yesterday as the Nobel laureate gave a rare insight into the high-stake lobbying and negotiations that preceded the PDP’s presidential primaries in which Atiku was highly favoured to win at the expense of his then boss Obasanjo.

    Besides, Soyinka spoke on how genuine efforts by Chief Bola Ige to reposition the energy sector as Power Minister between 1999 and 2000 were sabotaged by Obasanjo.

    Soyinka was replying a question at a special reading session to mark the presentation of his latest book, “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business”,  at the Freedom Park, Lagos.

    Speaking at the event, Mr. Louis Odion, one-time Edo State Information Commissioner and The Nation columnist, asked the literary giant whether he believed a sensational claim last year by Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose of witnessing Obasanjo going down on his knees in Tripoli before the late President Muamar Ghaddafi in his desperate bid to secure the Libyan strongman’s  support for an extension of his chairmanship of the African Union (AU), since the former Nigerian President has neither denied nor confirmed the account.

    Fayose’s account was published by an Abuja-based monthly magazine, The Interview.

    Ghaddafi was younger than Obasanjo. Libya is smaller in size and population compared to Nigeria.

    Responding, Soyinka said he had no cause to doubt Fayose, given his knowledge of how Obasanjo did the “unthinkable” when his aspiration for a second term in office was similarly threatened in 2003.

    Said he: “Before the PDP primaries in January 2003, Obasanjo got everyone he knew could reach me on the surface on the earth including Yemi Ogunbiyi and my son, to get me to help him intercede when it was clear that (Abubakar) Atiku was in a position to take his job. He knew Atiku had a lot of regard for me and calls me ‘Uncle’.”

    In the now famous BBC interview few days to PDP’s 2003 primaries, Atiku had declared that he was under tremendous pressure from his supporters to contest the ticket against Obasanjo but was yet to make up his mind in what triggered panic in Obasanjo’s camp.

    “The pressure was intense,” the literary giant recounted. “Of course, I could not have knelt before Atiku not to embark on a course of action that would lead to his boss’ disgrace. But I can confirm to you that Obasanjo as President knelt down before Atiku so that he would not lose his job.

    “But I warned Atiku that for making Obasanjo to kneel down for you, be sure you would have to pay heavily for that. I guess my warning came to pass if you remember Atiku’s dramatic change of fortune once Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.”

    As expected, yesterday’s book reading turned out a day of reminiscences of many bizarre dramas and unsavory episodes that characterised Obasanjo’s reign as two-term president betweeen 1999 and 2007. The panel of disscussants included frontline rights activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) and Mr. Sam Omatseye, author and Chairman of “The Nation” Editorial Board, and was moderated by Mr. Kunle Ajibade, award-winning author and Executive Director of “TheNews/Tempo”.

    The roll-call at the event included literary colossus Prof. J. P. Clark, Colonel Tony Nyiam (retd) and Mr. Jahman Anikulapo.

    Dispelling the notion that the long-running disagreement he has with Obasanjo is personal, Soyinka said his motivation is the desire that those he described as cause of the nation’s problems do not continue to recycle themselves as the solution.

    He also dismissed Obasanjo as a hypocrite for denying that he did not have a hand in the third term agenda in 2006.

    Said the playwright: “I remember I was invited to a conference in Germany around the time the third term game was unfolding in Nigeria. Then, I received this frantic call from officials at the Nigerian embassy who confided in me that they had been told to prepare for Obasanjo’s third term in office. They expressed fears that should it succeed, the country might be plunged into a serious crisis. They were of the view that I could use my leverage to talk to him or help mobilise public opinions to dissuade him.

    “At the conference proper, I made sure I continually made poignant innuendos in the direction Obasanjo sat that day. But, typically, he kept shrugging his shoulders and looking the other way.

    “But when the opportunity came for a closer interaction at the dinner, I pointedly told him that ‘Obasanjo, you know you cannot try third term’. Suddenly, he charged back at me, saying, ‘Wole, you only have one vote!’ I remember the Nigerian envoy then to Germany, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, jovially remarked that, ‘Ah, Mr. President, Wole Soyinka has more than one vote o. You know when he says anything, people listen across the world.’

    “As soon as Obasanjo left the venue, I told Adeniran that ‘with what you’ve just said, be sure you’ve lost your job’. True, soon afterwards, Adeniran lost his job.”

    Corroborating Soyinka, Falana said contrary to Obasanjo’s continued denial, the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice alluded in her book to how the former Nigerian leader prevailed on George Bush to support his third term bid. This, Falana said, Obasanjo never refuted.

    On the parlous energy situation in the country, Soyinka recalled that Obasanjo did not only frustrate Ige but also humiliated him.

    He said: “This was a man who said after Bola Ige died that we put somebody there, Bola Ige who did not know his left from right. He owes Bola Ige for maligning him, after humiliating him after sabotaging his genuine efforts to transform the power sector. It was sabotage and nothing less than a terrorist act against the electricity supply of the country.

    “Bola Ige was frustrated and his works sabotaged. In fact, he had done his homework before he took office. He summoned a group of experts and mapped out the transformation of the sector. But, he was sabotaged from the inside. Bola Ige asked Obasanjo to remove one Suleman Bello, who was the managing director of the corporation then. The consequences we are suffering today. Obasanjo collaborated and protected the system headed by Mr. Suleman Bello. I dare Obasanjo to meet me one on one on any podium to debate the power project.”

  • Obasanjo: Bayelsa diagnostic centre among world’s best

    EX-President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Tuesday, described services provided by the Bayelsa State Diagnostic Centre and Health Insurance Scheme as affordable and world-class!

    Obasanjo, who spoke with reporters in Yenagoa shortly after a routine check-up at the state’s World Class Diagnostic Centre and Specialist Hospital, lauded Governor Seriake Dickson for investing in the health sector.

    A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to  the governor, Mr Francis Ottah-Agbo quoted the former president as saying that the medical personnel, cutting edge machines and services could compete with their counterparts anywhere.

    Obasanjo called on people within and outside the country to avail themselves of the services, which he described as effective, yet cheap.

    Some of the tests carried out on the former President include, blood test,  Echo Cardiography, Abdominal Ultrasound Check and Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

    Emphasising the importance of health, Obasanjo urged the people to enrol in the State Health Insurance Scheme to enable them access efficient and affordable health care.

    His words: “We started this (Tuesday) morning with blood and urine tests. Then I went through the full process of eye and dental check. They also looked at all my internal organs: my heart, kidneys, liver and the spleen. Thereafter, I had a semi-sleep in the MRI machine where they looked at my brain.

    “ I have gone through the machines here the way I had gone through them in Atlanta, Georgia where I normally go for my medical checkup. And it may be of interest to you to know that the doctor says my health is correct. What they are doing here is extremely commendable.

    “ I used to go to America twice a year, March and September for medical check up, but with what I have seen here, I’m convinced that they have the right medical personnel and machines. The only difference is that it is cheaper here than there.

    “ I only paid N350,000 for all that I have gone through here today, which would not have been less than 20 to $25,000 in America. But I got it here for less than half a million. So, it’s cheap and effective and you get the result immediately.

    “Why will you have to go to Sokoto from Lagos to look for what you already have in your pocket? I’ve got my result and I have paid my bills and I am going because the Doctor said I am as fit as fiddle.

    Commenting on the health insurance scheme, he said, “You know, I enrolled in it the last time I visited. I pay monthly. It is good for people to know that health Insurance is very important.

    “ Because when you are in need of attention, you may not have the money. But your health insurance will take care of it for you. I’ve just paid for one year in advance.

    ‘’So, I have two receipts with me here. One, is for my health insurance for one year, which is N14,400. While the other receipt is for all the process I’ve gone through here, amounting to N350,000. I thank Governor Dickson for investing in the health sector as well as safeguarding the health of Bayelsans”

     

  • Obasanjo, Dickson launch safe motherhood campaign in Bayelsa

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Bayelsa State Governor  Seriake Dickson yesterday launched a safe motherhood campaign in the state to curb maternal and infant mortality.

    The campaign to end death of pregnant women and children under the age of five was launched at the first Infant/Maternal Mortality Summit at  the Banquet Hall, Yenagoa

    Present at the campaign was the Speaker of the Gambian National Assembly/Deputy Speaker, ECOWAS Parliament, Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay.

    Others are President of the National Council of Women Society Mrs. Gloria Labaran Shoda; Matron of African Women Leadership Organisation Chief Opral Benson; Special Adviser to former Speaker of Liberia Dr. Jophia Nanker Gupar; Deputy Governor John Jonah, and Rachael, Dickson’s wife.

    Women groups, state lawmakers, commissioners and exco members as well as civil society groups also witnessed the launch.

    Obasanjo, who chaired the summit, said if motherhood were not given attention, women would not get the recognition and would be barred from making contributions to the society.

    The former President said he was fortunate to chair the programme to end mortality among pregnant women and children under the age of five.

    He commended the commitment of Dickson towards the campaign.

    Obasanjo said the governor had put in place adequate health care facilities, adding that with the such infrastructure, no mother should die during pregnancy and after delivery.

    He said: “What gladdened my heart most is what Bayelsa State is doing, because the state according to the governor will meet the standard of Ondo State and surpass it in the shortest time possible. Bayelsa has taken the solution to where the problem is.”

    The former President said it would be a shame if the standard Dickson set in office dropped after he left.

    Dickson said the government had initiated a policy to give every expectant mother in Bayelsa a monthly stipend of N3,000 as incentive to enable them attend ante-natal care.

    He said: “At this summit, I want to announce a government policy that in order to make it possible for every pregnant woman to deliver safely, in order for us to know that every pregnant is accounted for, supervised and supported all through her pregnancy up to delivery.

    “The government, at this summit, is announcing a safe maternity allowance of N3,000 per month to every pregnant woman in Bayelsa.

    “This N3,000 is not for every woman in the state. This one we are announcing is a special safe motherhood allowance. From the moment a Bayelsa woman and every woman living here in Bayelsa becomes pregnant is entitled as of right to N3,000 until her delivery.

    “I want to check the integrity also of this programme, I want to get a report of the conduct of medical practitioners attending to her and those of the traditional birth attendants”.