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Tag: Udengs Eradiri

  • Bayelsa Assembly clears 5 Commissioner-Nominees

    The Bayelsa House of Assembly on Thursday screened and confirmed five commissioner-nominees whose names were earlier forwarded by Governor Seriake Dickson.

    They include former Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) President, Engr. Udengs Eradiri and former Deputy Speaker of Bayelsa Assembly, Mr Sam Ateke.

    Others are Mr Jonah Selekewei, Mr Victor Ataba and Mr Author Andrew.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 24-member Assembly confirmed the nominees during plenary presided over by the deputy speaker, Mr Abraham Ngobere.

    Read Also: Lagos commissioner resigns from cabinet, APC

    Leader of the House and member representing Sagbama Constituency I, Mr Peter Akpe, advised the commissioners-designate to view their appointment as an opportunity to serve the state.

    He urged them to also ensure that the interest of the people of the state is paramount in everything they do.

    Also speaking, the Chief Whip of the House and lawmaker representing Kolokuma/Opokuma Constituency I, Mr Tonye Isenah, admonished them to key into the restoration government’s agenda.

    He also charged the would-be commissioners to be diligent in the discharge of their duties as members of the state executive council.

    In his remark, Eradiri said the state should expect the best from them, pointing out that given the enabling environment, they would serve the state meritoriously.

    “Bayelsa State should expect the best from us. Leadership is about the people and you must carry the people along.

    “I will bring an all inclusive leadership and hope the necessary environment would be accorded us to do the job according to the best of our abilities,” he said.

  • Bayelsa aspirants dump PDP, lament imposition, impunity

    Two prominent Ijaw youth leaders from Bayelsa State on Thursday dumped the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) following the fallout of the party’s primary elections in the state.

    A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri and ex-National Mobilization Officer of IYC, Elvis Donkemezuo, who were aspirants in the elections, complained bitterly that the process was marred by irregularities and violence.

    Donkemezuo, immediately defected to the Young Democratic Party (YDP), to actualize his aspirations of representing Kolokuma-Opokuma Constituency 2 in the State House of Assembly.

    But Eradiri, who aspired to fly a PDP flag for the Yenagoa-Kolokuma-Opokuma Federal Constituency, in a press briefing in Yenagoa said he was still consulting with his supporters and family members to decide his political future.

    He described the Wednesday primary election in which a former Secretary of State Government (SSG), Steve Azaiki, was declared the winner, as a sham adding that thugs mobilized by state forces attacked delegates and shot at him.

    Eradiri lamented that delegates from 12 wards in his constituency were not allowed to vote saying he witnessed the highest level of intimidation despite promises of a free and fair election by the party.

    He said with his experience as an aspirant, the PDP leaders had learnt nothing from the lack of internal democracy and imposition of candidates that made them lose the 2015 general elections.

    He said: “I am dissatisfied with the way the primaries went, right from when ward congresses were conducted. The ward congress election did not hold. Names were written, we protested but nothing was done about it.

    “At the primaries,  I saw the height of an undemocratic process. In fact 12 wards from my Federal Constituency were excluded. It was marred by violence. People were mobilized to violently attack our supporters and I was shot at.

    “Above all the principles of the true free and fair democratic process was not adhered to. It is not as if I wasn’t expecting this but I thought that as a party which came out of 2015 wounded as a result of lack of internal democracy and inposition of candidates probably leaders would have learnt some lessons. 

    “The PDP is going into an election with an opposition and ruling party that has everything that it takes to win an election. We saw what happened in Ekiti and Osun states so the only way the PDP can make progress is by ensuring internal democratic process.

    “So, having considered all the factors surrounding it I have come to the conclusion that the PDP is not where I would be able to express myself. I am a young man with a lot of energy and drive to add value to the society.

    Read Also: 150,000 persons displaced by flood in Bayelsa

    “I think that the agitation for justice in the Niger Delta must migrate from the streets to the table of political discus and that is when people who are knowledgeable find themselves in the law-making part of governance”.

    Eradiri said it was unfortunate PDP chose to treat him like an outcast despite his loyalty and contributions to the party.

    He said: “I have learnt the hard way. I want to formerly thank the leadership of the PDP and the leadership of the state for giving me the opportunity to learn the ropes of politics. 

    “I want to formerly inform the world that today the 4th October 2018, l formerly exit the PDP. My letters will be ready and I will forward it to my ward through which it will be forwarded to the leadership of the council. 

    “Going forward I am engaging in conversation with my supporters and I will communicate again to the world the next line of action”.

    On his part, Donkemezuo, who was received by the leaders of the YDP described the PDP as a wilderness and expressed happiness that the YDP had given him the light.

    “It was unfortunate what happened in the PDP. We have seen imposition of candidates. We have seen lack of internal democracy, violence, intimidation and impunity in the highest order.

    “My constituency was not allowed to vote in the National Assembly primaries. My ward chairman was beaten and stripped naked. Monies and phones were stolen and that is not the kind of ideals l have for politics. 

    “Violence and intimidation does not conform to my principles in politics. It is part of these reasons l chose to pursue my ambition in other platform where there is decency”.

  • Niger Delta leaders urge Buhari to sack service chiefs

    Some prominent Niger Delta leaders on Friday told President Muhammadu Buhari to sack his service chiefs as part of solution to the bloodletting in the country especially in the North Central.

    The leaders said Buhari’s decision to renew the tenures of the service chiefs compounded the security challenges because it created internal rivalries in the key security agencies.

    A renowned youth leader and former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, insisted that Buhari got the service chiefs’ tenure renewal wrong, adding that the action dampened the morale of subordinate officers in such agencies.

    Eradiri said by the renewal, military officers felt shortchanged and were likely working at variance with the security chiefs.

    He said: “The President is responsible for the conflict based on the actions that he took. When he extended indefinitely the tenures of service chiefs, it went a long way to kill the morale of subordinate officers who thought that they needed to put in their best because one day they would get to the top as service chiefs.

    “But unfortunately the Presidency extended the tenures of the already expired service chiefs. Some of them had retired and some are already retiring but the President extended their tenures.

    “In the Department of State Security (DSS), the President went and brought an officer who wasn’t doing so well while in office and was retired. He brought him to head DSS that requires loyalty from subordinates. He also killed the morale there.

    “The same thing happened in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). So, largely, the blame should be on the doorsteps of the presidency. I don’t like playing the ethnic cards even though it is sticking now. When you tell a story for too long it begins to stick. Everybody is adopting the narrative of ethnic cleansing.”

    An elder statesman, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said the unabated killings of innocent Nigerians under whatever guise was condemnable.

    “We have seen a lot in this country but it is easy to say we have not seen this kind of killings across the country. We are praying on a daily basis for the unity and peace of this country. We hope that the security agencies are also praying.”

     

     

     

     

  • Ijaw leaders blast Bayelsa protesters

    Ijaw leaders on Thursday took a swipe at persons protesting the ongoing public sector reforms initiated by Governor Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa State.

    The leaders were particularly angry with the kinsmen and women of the late former state Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, for carrying a mock coffin in protest against Dickson.

    The protesters, mostly aged women, blocked the road leading to their Amassoma community in Southern Ijaw following the outcome of the reforms at the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU).

    The coffin-carrying protesters were reportedly angry that their names were removed from the university’s payroll for attaining the compulsory retirement age.

    Read Also: Bayelsa to build gym in Yenagoa

    But some Ijaw leaders condemned the protest, insisting that Dickson deserved commendation for tackling the rot in the state’s public sector.

    A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, said it was unfortunate that such protest was targeted at Dickson despite his efforts to better the lives of his people.

    “It is unfortunate that a governor like Dickson who has been doing a lot to better the lives of the people will be reduced to this level. But whoever carried such coffin carried it on his head,” Eradiri said.

    He described the developments in NDU, where the number of non-academic staff was greater than the academic staff and other public institutions in the state as unsustainable.

     

  • ‘Re-arresting Kanu will be Buhari’s greatest mistake’

    ‘Re-arresting Kanu will be Buhari’s greatest mistake’

    The immediate past president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, on Monday advised the Federal Government to suspend plans to re-arrest the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

    Speaking in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, Eradiri, who said the issue should be treated with utmost caution, lamented that government mismanaged earlier opportunities it had to clip the wings of the IPOB leader.

    “Instead the government took steps that made Kanu popular among the masses, especially the youths, in the Southeast, who shared his belief and pledged allegiance to him,” he said.

    He added that calling for the re-arrest of Kanu at a time the government glossed over the quit notice issued to Igbo residents in the north by the Arewa youths would portray the Buhari’s administration as religiously biased.

    He added: “The truth is that the Arewa youths did their own threat to the existence of this country and nothing was done amidst all the calls for the arrest of those people, who threatened others living in other parts of the country under the nose of the government.

    “Nobody said anything. The international community, everybody screamed and nothing was done. Now the federal government is pushing for the re-arrest of Kanu. Can’t you see the mobilisation that Nnamdi Kanu has done in the recent time?

    “Any attempt to arrest him will be resisted because the government seems to be religiously biased. Asari Dokubo sometimes ago didn’t do as much as what the Arewa youths did before he was arrested.

    “OPC leader and Uwazurike were all arrested for similar offences that were not as grave as what the Arewa youths did. So, if you did not arrest Arewa youths and you are calling for Kanu’s arrest, you are going to cause problem in the country.

    “Kanu has a right under the United Nation’s Charter to demand for self-determination. Who was Kanu before the government arrested him? It is the government that mishandled the entire thing and made a hero out of him. Any further mismanagement of this process could lead to a different ball game.”

     

     

  • How Buhari can resolve Niger Delta crisis – Ijaw youths

    Ijaw youths on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to create economic engagements in the Niger Delta region as the most sustainable way of resolving the persistent crisis in the area.

    The youths under their umbrella body, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, said any discussion with stakeholders involving sharing of money without stimulating the economy of the region would be a waste of time.

    The IYC President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, who spoke in Yenagoa, reeled out some key projects which when undertaken would calm frayed nerves in the region.

    One of the key economic projects capable of changing the fortunes of the region, according to Eradiri, is the Brass Fertilizer Project in Bayelsa State.

    He appealed to Buhari to approve the project and direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fund it the same way the apex bank is providing financial support to the Dangote’s refinery project.

    He said the fertilizer project was designed to generate 12,000 jobs and create commercial traffic in the region.

    He said the Federal Government should also reverse its decision on the Maritime University at Gbaramatu in Delta State.

    He noted that it was cheaper to solve the problems of the region through economic engagements than through military operations like the ongoing Operation Crocodile Smile.

  • IYC seeks arrest, prosecution of impersonators

    The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide on Tuesday asked the police to arrest and prosecute some persons impersonating key officials of the council.

    The IYC was particularly unhappy with the activities of Elvis Donkemezuo, whom it accused of impersonating the office of the president of the council, Mr. Udengs Eradiri.

    The council said Donkemezuo allegedly produced business cards and letterheads of IYC president among other insignias of the office.

    It said Donkemezuo was going about with some misguided youths to deceive members of the public.

    The president of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, who spoke on Tuesday, claimed that Donkemezuo was visiting some oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, claiming to be the IYC president and seeking economic empowerment from the oil firms.

    Eradiri said though Donkemezuo is an Ijaw youth, he is not a member of the IYC because he has not been paying dues.

    He said: “The truth is that this young man (Elvis Donkemezuo) is going around claiming to be IYC president, and presenting himself to oil companies that he is the leader of the IYC in a bid to gain economic favour from the oil companies.

    “The public must note that this individual is an impostor, and the people moving around with him. He has business cards, letterheads, sending such specifically to companies, especially Agip, NPDC and Shell. He is going everywhere that he is IYC president.”

    He said the objectives of the youth body did not include using it as a platform to “harass” oil companies but to ensure sustainable peace in the region.

     

  • Pipeline attacks: Dialogue won’t solve problem- IYC

    Pipeline attacks: Dialogue won’t solve problem- IYC

    Ijaw Youths Congress (IYC) Thursday told the federal government that no amount of dialogue will end intermittent insurgency and youth restiveness in the oil-rich region if the critical questions of equity and development were not sorted out.

    President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, who stated this during this year’s annual Major Isaac Adaka Boro anniversary, held in Effunrun, Delta state, also said the first step to get any form of dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta was the opening of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.

    Lead speaker at the event, Tony Uranta, also charged the federal government not to terminate the amnesty programme, initiated by the previous administration yet as doing so would only be worsening the restiveness in the region.

    In his speech at the event, Eradiri said the only reason there was anything like the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the insurgent group claiming responsibility for the recent upsurge of insurgency in the region, was because the same issues that Adaka Boro fought against in his days are still very much around in today’s Nigeria.

    “The same issues for which Adaka Boro and Ken Sarowiwa were killed are the same issues the Avengers are raising. There are no Avengers anywhere. Settle these issues and the avengers would fizzle away.”

    “People have started discussing. There was a meeting in Abuja Wednesday but I told them that such meeting would not work. If they want us to talk, they must first open the Maritime University and start admitting students, then we would now sit and talk,” Eradiri said.

    Meanwhile, the lead speaker at the event, Uranta, opined that time was not ripe for the federal government to terminate the amnesty programme, noting that doing so would only be helping in building an army of discontent youth in the region.

    “Government must reassure the people of the Niger Delta that it is not yet ready to terminate the Amnesty Programme as there are still a lot of people yet to go for training.

    “If you don’t engage these people, you are building up an army of discontent and the government must restructure Nigeria to a true federalism.”

    On her part, co-speaker and rights activist, Annkio Briggs, while condemning the federal government for the way and manner it is handling the agitations of the region, said “What the people of the Niger Delta region are asking for is self determination.

    “This is different from self succession. We want to own our resources and states should be allowed to explore their own resources while paying tax to the federal government,” she said.

     

  • Ijaw youths knock DSS for raiding Jonathan’s ally’s home

    Ijaw youths on Wednesday knocked the Department of State Security (DSS) for ransacking the Abuja residence of King Amalate Turner, an ally of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The home of Turner, who is the King of Opume Kingdom in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State, was on Tuesday searched by DSS for an unexplained reason.

    But the leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), after an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Yenagoa, described the DSS’ action as an affront to the traditional institution of the Ijaw nation.

    The President of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, alleged that the due process of issuing official invitation to a suspect and obtaining a search warrant was not followed during the operation of the DSS.

    Describing it as an abuse of fundamental human rights, Eradiri said the entire nation was still in shock over the way the security agency treated the property of one of its kings.

    He said: “On Tuesday, very sad and bitter news came into Ijaw land that the DSS has invaded a property of a royal majesty, a king in Ijaw land, King Amalate Turner. The act is condemned.

    “It should not be accepted by the Nigerian public. We see it as an abuse of fundamental rights of individuals of this country. The procedure was not followed. DSS should have invited the person.

    “Initially, we even thought it was an armed robbery operation. It was just like the way armed robbers operate. Security agencies have modus operandi of engaging civil society.  We condemn that act and I am sure the right action should be taken.”

  • Ijaw youths fume over Obasanjo’s letter

    Ijaw youths fume over Obasanjo’s letter

    …Accuses ex-President heating up polity

    Ijaw youths on Friday expressed their displeasure with the controversial letter written to President Goodluck Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    The youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) accused Obasanjo of heating up the polity with his letter and alleged that the former President crafted his letter in bad faith.

    The aggrieved youths said that the series of attacks against Jonathan could destroy the country.

    President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, who addressed journalists in Yenagoa asked Obasanjo to evaluate himself before making provocative and spurious comments.

    He said Obasanjo was wrong to have associated Jonathan with violence, adding that it was not in the character of Ijaw people to take delight in killing people.

    Eradiri said Obasanjo wrote out of deep-seated animosity, claiming that the ex-President was determined to pull Jonathan down.

    He said: “In this country, leaders who see that others will surpass them; they will decide to drag him down and that is what is playing out in the case of Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan.

    “The achievements that Jonathan has put on the table will be difficult for any other president to surpass in the country. But he is a man who does not know how to blow his trumpet.”

    He said no amount of campaign of calumny would stop Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015.

    He said the President should be allowed to enjoy second term in office like his predecessors, including Obasanjo.