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Tag: Senator Heineken Lokpobiri

  • Minister to Bayelsa APC faction: Blackmail won’t distract me

    Minister to Bayelsa APC faction: Blackmail won’t distract me

    The  Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri on Monday said no amount of blackmail would distract him from discharging his functions in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Lokpobiri said all the allegations against him by the suspected faction of the state Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by the party’s state Chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe were laughable and baseless.

    Oruminighe and his group accused Lokpobiri of purchasing his ministerial slot from the state leader of the party and former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva.

    But Lokpobiri in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Mr. Donald Ojogo, said he never got his appointment on the altar of financial inducement.

    He threatened to seek redress in court by filing libel suit against persons bent in damaging his hard-earned reputation.

    The statement said: “In the last few days, the Bayelsa state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has contended with  some unsavoury moments.

    ” Undoubtedly, these are orchestrated by an insignificant few within the party and oiled by some external forces who feel threatened about their political future, especially as the APC challenges the outcome of the last governorship election at the Election Petition Tribunal.

    “‎From the outset, the attitude of the Honourable Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has been to ignore and avoid responding to all such untoward moves and circumstances around the APC. To him, such do not represent the much required cohesion, sincerity of purpose and political maturity.

    “Nonetheless, in the view of the deliberate fabrication of lies and misrepresentation of facts on the part of those who have allowed themselves to be used in this blackmail venture, it has become very compelling to state the following:

    “The Hon Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri never got his appointment on the platter of financial negotiations as expressly insinuated by the suspended State chairman of the APC in Bayelsa State, Chief Tiwei Oruminigha and his cohorts.

    “Like other appointees of Mr President, Senator Lokpobiri was duly considered worthy to be so appointed in his position.

    “It is a clear case of misrepresentation of facts to insinuate that former governor of Bayelsa who is the leader of the APC in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva collected money from the Hon minister before his appointment as minister. This is an outright fabrication”.

    The statement added: “The reference by Tiwei Orunimigha to statements purportedly made by Hon minister in the build up to the 2015 elections ‎that he (Lokpobiri) never believed in the ability of the APC and its then presidential candidate (now president), Muhammadu Buhari to win election is nothing but an exhibition of either some form of delusion or  incurable  amnesia.

    “For the records, the Hon Minister’s political affinity with President Muhammadu Buhari dates back to 2003 when he was the senatorial candidate of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party ( ANPP) fro Bayelsa West Senatorial District.

    “He had vigorously campaigned for him to be president then. The assertion by Orunimigha can only be a fictionalised sermon heightened by defeated expectations. It is therefore a blackmail that cannot stand the test of time. It is neither capable of distracting the Hon minister.

    “Lastly, as a law abiding citizen, the Hon Minister wishes to state that while an unsuspecting section of the media has the liberty to publish unsubstantiated stories, he reserves the right to seek redress in the ‎law courts”.

  • Gunmen attacks Lokpobiri’s residence

    Gunmen attacks Lokpobiri’s residence

    Gunmen suspected to be militants working for one of the parties in the Bayelsa governorship election attacked the home of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri in Ekremor Local Government Area.

    The Gunmen were later repelled by JTF.

  • Bayelsa: PDP defectors are greedy, selfish – Dickson

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Monday gave reasons for last Saturday’s defection of some politicians from the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The former Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Nditimi Alaibe, Col. Sam Inokoba, and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri are among the politicians that defected to the APC at the weekend.

    They were received by the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    Dickson, who spoke with journalists on the sideline of the 2015 National Security Summit organized by the Nigeria Police Force in conjunction with The Sun Publishing Limited in Abuja, said the politicians moved to the new party on the basis of greediness and selfishness.

    According to him, they are all aiming for the governorship ticket of the APC in order to contest for the Bayelsa governorship poll.

    Stressing that it was within their right to decamp, the governor said for the records, it was important that the public know why they decamped to the APC.

    He said: “They decamped because each one of them wants to be governor and the PDP platform is not available.

    “So, they are going to the next alternative and which in the case of the APC, is the party that has control of the center and by so doing, positioning themselves for federal appointments, which the PDP and I are not in a position to give to them.

    “And they are hoping somehow that federal might, by way of security and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulation will see their eventual flagbearer get into the government house, which is not going to be the case.”

    Claiming that he is firmly on ground in the state, the governor said his people are of the view that his administration has done well and will troop out en mass on election day to vote for him and the PDP.

     

    “We know the antecedents of each and everyone of them and we are confident that the people are not with them,” he added.

     

  • I won PDP Bayelsa West senatorial primary – Lokpobiri

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Water Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, opened up Tuesday on the intrigues which characterised Sunday’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election in Bayelsa West Senatorial district.

    Lokpobiri insisted at a press conference in Abuja that he won the primary election “clean and clear” in the zone, contrary to some reports.

    He noted that in the first place, the primary election where he won was conducted with “the authentic delegates accredited” for the election.

    The two-term lawmaker reiterated that he decided to set the records straight because of “misleading media reports that I lost the primary.”

    Senator Lokpobori stated that he decided to act when it was discovered that rather than comply with Article 28 (b) of the PDP, which stipulates that “accreditation of delegates should take place from 8am to 12noon, he met some unknown officials collating the results.

    He said, “It is imperative for me to put things in perspective and that is why I decided to address this press conference. It is also important to put it on record that Sunday’s senatorial primary for Bayelsa West, did hold and it was my good self who won the primary.

    “The video clips are there for the world to see. By the party guidelines, accreditation starts by 8:00am and is expected to end by 12:00pm. I got to Sagbama town, which was the venue of the Bayelsa West senatorial primary by 10:45am and I was confronted with the roads being barricaded with security vehicles.

    “I got to the venue with my supporters at about 11:00am and I saw somebody who purportedly was counting the results of the primary! I quickly asked him, ‘what are you doing? The primary is supposed to end by 12:00pm!’

    “I told them that we still had one hour to the end of the accreditation and I was there to present myself for the exercise. I was there in company with some statutory delegates including former acting governor, Hon. Nestor Binibo and the Deputy Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Empere Ebamua.

    “After I insisted that the accreditation was supposed to be on-going at that time, there was pandemonium, the governor left and others , including the person purportedly collating the results, scampered out of the venue!

    “Thereafter, the authentic delegates converged in another venue, in an assembly hall of the secondary school in Sagbama, the accreditation was then done. It ended by 12:00pm and then, voting took place and I was duly declared with 93 votes by the returning officer, Peter Bufumoh. My opponent got maybe one or two votes. That was what happened. I just want Nigerians to know what actually happened.”