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Tag: bayelsa

  • NYSC member offers medical care to 71 widows in Bayelsa

    NYSC member offers medical care to 71 widows in Bayelsa

    Ms Joy Omotola, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Monday offered medical care to 71 widows in Ovom Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

    newsmen reports that Omotola, who hails from Ogun, said in Yenagoa the gesture was part of her contribution to improve the welfare of aged widows in the society.

    Omotola alongside other corps members, who are in the medical profession, screened the widows for diabetics and high blood pressure.

    The exercise, which took place at the community town hall, included free consultation and check up for the widows, donation of wrappers, food stuffs including bags of rice and bags of garri.

    She noted that widows were vulnerable members of the society, who apart from suffering from the death of their spouses also had mental health illnesses such as depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, diabetics and stroke among others.

    According to her, widowhood is among the most stressful of all life situations and requires more psychological and behavioural adjustment than any other life transition.

    Omotola said that the various challenges faced by widows provided justification for proper meal, good healthcare and good clothing.

    She said that after a critical evaluation of the situation of widows in the community, there was the need to quickly reach out to them as they were helpless and this burden birthed the project “New Year for Widows”.

    She said that the project was to empower the widows in the community with some basic provisions and create a healthy lifestyle for them to support each other through this period of their lives.

    “The project is also to celebrate their strength and encourage them to keep pushing for the coming years and teach them how to take care of their all-round wellbeing.’’

    Mr Ibesemiye Silver, the Chairman, Ovom Community Development Committee, speaking on behalf of the community and the widows thanked Omotola for her kind gesture.

    The community leader also prayed to God to grant her blessings in all her future endeavours beyond her service year.

  • Stop seeing politics as dirty, Gov. Diri urges Christians

    Stop seeing politics as dirty, Gov. Diri urges Christians

    Bayelsa Governor, Douye Diri, has advised Christians to actively participate in politics and stop seeing it as dirty if they want to positively impact on the society.
    Diri gave the advice while speaking at the end of a two-day programme of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, tagged “Light Up Bayelsa Holy Ghost Rally”, at the Oxbow Lake in Yenagoa on Thursday.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Diri urged Christians not to be aloof to politics or remain unconcerned but rather join to influence decision-making for the good of the generality of the people.
    He said Nigeria is in dire need of people that would salvage it from its many challenges, adding that the church should not be docile in the face of insecurity, corruption and other vices threatening the country.
    The governor stated that under his administration, peace had come to stay in the state and that the days when people resort to violence to settle differences are over.
    Speaking about his achievements, Diri said within two years in the saddle, his administration had changed the landscape through various projects from road infrastructure, Educational and health structures to lighting up of the major roads and building of a mega media complex, among numerous other projects.
    Diri, who expressed joy that the programme coincided with activities marking his second year in office, declared that his administration had adopted it as part of its second anniversary celebrations.
    He thanked the RCCG General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, for his continued support for his administration.
    He said: “You are a good father. So, after consultation, we decided to give you the name “Ebidaowei of Bayelsa, meaning the good father of Bayelsa.
    “Our story as a government in Bayelsa will be better told by you, Daddy G.O. When we were told that you were coming to start the year with us, we opened our arms to welcome you.
    “This government will be two years old on February 14. You have been a part of us, supported us, prayed with us and prayed for us. You have continued to support us by coming to begin the year with us.
    “As part of our second-anniversary celebration, we have adopted this programme. Bayelsa has been lighted up. Bayelsa will not go back to Egypt.
    “As your government, we came in 2020 at the time of COVID-19. In 2021, we had some respite and effectively governance commenced.
    “Within this short period, our scorecard is on the streets. We have constructed roads. There are between 15 and 20 concrete roads constructed in Yenagoa.
    “We are taking on a big-ticket road project from the Ecumenical Center at Igbogene to Tombia roundabout and later to Government House.
    “We are taking on the Yenagoa to Oporoma road, and by February 14, we will drive from Yenagoa to Angiama.
    “We are taking on the other senatorial road from Sagbama to Ekeremor in Bayelsa West.
    “Our desire is that by February, we will drive on tarred road to Aleibiri. Before our government completes its first four years, we will drive on tarred road to Ekeremor.
    “We have taken one of our signature projects, because we see the media as very important. We are building one of the biggest media complexes in Nigeria today and before February 14, it will be commissioned.
    “In terms of sports and youth empowerment, your government has done so much that at the last sports festival, for the first time, Bayelsa came third in Nigeria. Bayelsa last year won the Federation Cup, called AITEO Cup.
    “We have continued to light up Yenagoa city. Our streets will no longer be in darkness.
    “Your government is also very concerned about the other senatorial road in Bayelsa East Senatorial District, which has been on the drawing board for decades.
    “That is the road from Nembe to Brass. We have resolved that since it is a Federal Government road, if nothing is done this year, your government will start its construction.
    “Also, we are poised to commission the Nembe Unity Bridge by February 14. The collapsed Elebele bridge, started and completed by your government, will be commissioned also on February 14,” he said. (
  • Diri rules out payment of ransom for kidnapped Bayelsa commissioner

    Diri rules out payment of ransom for kidnapped Bayelsa commissioner

    Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa has ruled out the payment of ransom to secure the release of the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Mr Federal Otokito.

    Otokito was kidnapped on Thursday at his country home, Otuokpoti in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

    A statement by Diri’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, on Monday urged youths of the state to shun kidnapping, which the governor described as counter-productive.

    Diri called for the immediate and unconditional release of the commissioner, vowing that the state’s laws against kidnapping would be followed to the letter.

    He said, “I left Yenagoa for Abuja and within the period one of my cabinet members was kidnapped. A lot of people expected me to make statements but I am not a man of too many words.

    “I advise those who settle scores by kidnapping and criminality that there are laws of Bayelsa State against kidnapping.

    “Let me call on those that kidnapped my Commissioner of Trade and Investment to immediately release him without any conditions.

    “I have been on it from the beginning till now and I will ensure that he is released unhurt.

    “I advise all others involved in that criminal, ungodly and inhumane act to have a change of mind and leave that illegitimate business.’’

    It was gathered that the gunmen who abducted the commissioner had demanded the release of the father of their leader, who is in police custody as condition to free Otokito.

    They were said to have contacted the paramount ruler of Otuokpoti to demand the swap of the father of their leader with the commissioner.

  • Just In: Gunmen abduct Bayelsa commissioner, Federal Otokito

    Just In: Gunmen abduct Bayelsa commissioner, Federal Otokito

    Gunmen have kidnapped the Commissioner for Industry, Trade, and Investment in Bayelsa State, Federal Otokito.

    The commissioner was reportedly kidnapped on Thursday night at his residence in Otuokpoti, Ogbia LGA of the state.

    The armed gunmen were said to have invaded the neighbourhood, shooting randomly into the air to frighten the locals before whisking the commissioner away.

    Asinim Butswat, police public relations officer in Bayelsa, confirmed the incident.

    The police spokesperson said efforts are underway to rescue the victim.

    “Investigation is ongoing,” he said.

    “We have launched a manhunt for his rescue and arrest of the perpetrators.”

  • Late Ekpebu, first African Harvard graduate for state burial – Bayelsa govt

    Late Ekpebu, first African Harvard graduate for state burial – Bayelsa govt

    Bayelsa state government says late Ambassador Lawrence Ekpebu, the first African graduate from the prestigious Harvard University in the United States, will be given a state burial.

    Ekpebu, who also attended another Ivy League institution in the United States, Princeton University, hailed from Okoloba Community, in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, of Bayelsa.

    Governor Douye Diri, disclosed this on Wednesday, during a condolence visit to the family of the late accomplished scholar, diplomat and public administrator in Yenagoa.

    Diri, described the passage of the Ijaw icon as a painful loss to his ethnic group, his state and Nigeria as a whole.

    The governor, said the deceased, who was a pioneer executive council member of the old Rivers State when it was created in 1967, would be remembered for his distinguished service to the Ijaw ethnic nationality and Nigeria at large.

    He said Ekpebu, wrote his name in gold in the academia and left very large shoes as far as the Ijaw nation was concerned.

    He said: “Let me thank God for the life and times of our late icon, leader and father.

    “His history is laced with blessings not only to his family but also his immediate community, local government area, his state and the entire country.

    “We are indeed very proud of him having contributed immensely to the growth of this country, his state and his ethnic nationality.

    “The late Professor distinguished himself academically and is seen as the first African that graduated not just from a foreign university but one that is reputed to be among the best in the world, the Harvard University.

    “The late Professor was a founding member of the old Rivers State and started his service in that state.

    “His death is not only for Bayelsa but indeed the old Rivers State and the nation at large, having served this country in an ambassadorial capacity,” he said.

    The governor urged the Ekpebu family, especially the widow to take solace in the fact that the memory of the departed lives in the hearts of many.

    He also pledged his support for the family.

    He announced that he would be given a state burial when his burial date is announced by the family.

    Responding on behalf of the family, his eldest child, Mr Ebiweni Lawrence-Ekpebu, thanked governor Diri, for the honour and recognition accorded his father even in death.

    Lawrence-Ekpebu, said they felt honoured by their father’s legacies, especially in education and quality leadership across the country.

    He assured that his children would ensure that the legacies were sustained.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ekpebu, who was one-time Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire, died at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, on January 2 at the age of 90.

    Ekpebu in 1960 at the age of 26, received his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Harvard University.

    He also won the highly coveted Francis H Burr Prize Scholarship Class ‘60.

  • Pirates attack, kill 3 in twin attacks on oil facilities in Bayelsa, kidnap 7

    Pirates attack, kill 3 in twin attacks on oil facilities in Bayelsa, kidnap 7

    Gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates, in the early hours of Sunday attacked two oil installations, killing three and abducting seven oil workers in Bayelsa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (ANAN) learnt that the pirates ambushed their unsuspecting victims in Okoroma and Ogbokiri-Akassa communities of Nembe and Brass Local Government areas of Bayelsa.

    Sources close to the affected oilfields said the gunmen reportedly shot dead two staff of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company and a personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    The driver of their boat, an indigene of Okoroma community, is still missing, according to the local sources who witnessed the incident and narrated same to a NAN Correspondent.

    According to the sources, in the ambush that occurred at Ogbokiri-Akassa in Brass Local Government area, six oil workers allegedly doing maintenance job close to their platform were kidnapped and whisked away.

    It was further gathered that the Agip oil workers and their security personnel came under attack at about 6am while working close to a manifold in the deep swamp.

    Spokesman of the NSCDC, Bayelsa command, Mr Ogbere Solomon, confirmed the incident on Sunday evening.

    Solomon said one personnel of the command died in the ambush, while two others who were missing have been found and are currently receiving treatment at a medical facility in Yenagoa.

    “Yes, our officers were ambushed and attacked by some unknown pirates while on their lawful duty of providing protection to some Agip oil workers close to Obama manifold in Okoroma community of Nembe Local Government.

    “One personnel was killed while the other two that were missing have been found and are responding to treatment,” he said.

    Mr Tarinyu Joseph, the Youth President of the Okoroma Clan, said indigenes of the area recovered the corpses of those killed.

    He added that those injured were taken to the hospital while the boat driver, identified as his brother, is still missing.

  • 35-year-old landlord kills tenant’s 3-month-old baby in Bayelsa

    35-year-old landlord kills tenant’s 3-month-old baby in Bayelsa

    A quarrelsome thirty-five year-old landlord, Oyeinmiebi Selekowei and his mother have landed in Police net for killing the three-month-old baby of his tenant during a brawl at Amassoma community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    This is even as the Bayelsa State Government through its Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT) has indicated readiness to support the legal processes that will lead to the prosecution of the landlord who is currently in detention for culpable homicide.
    Information gathered, indicated that the suspect who was angry with the intervention of Pere, had threatened to deal with him.

    Pere, in a complaint lodged with GRIT stated that the suspect transferred aggression on him by holding his child upside down and hit the back of the child’s head against the door until the baby died.

    According to sources, Selekowei had on September 13, 2021 allegedly killed the three-month-old baby of his tenant, Oscar Pere because the latter tried to rescue a woman believed to be the landlord’s mother from the domestic violence being visited on her by the son.

    that obviously aware of the consequence of such murderous act on the part of the landlord, several relatives of his, had allegedly mounted pressure on the father of the deceased to settle the matter amicably.

    Other sources said this situation reportedly led Pere, who is a youth Pastor with the Redeemed Christian of Church of God (RCCG), to disclose that he “has handed the case to God.”

    He was quoted to have told officials of GRIT that he did not want to be involved in any case against his child’s killer.
    “Let God fight because vengeance belongs to God. I will not want to offend my God by doing things outside His will,” Pere was alleged to have said in his message.

    However, officials of GRIT are not ready to allow the case to be swept under the carpet and are ready to press ahead with the legal process since it borders on criminality against the State

  • Teenager arraigned for circulating nude video of retired Bayelsa Perm. Sec.

    Teenager arraigned for circulating nude video of retired Bayelsa Perm. Sec.

    The Department of State Services (DSS) on Monday arraigned a teenage girl before the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, for circulating the nude video of a retired Bayelsa permanent secretary on social media.

    In the one-count charge, prosecuting counsel, Mr Victor Uchendu, told the court that the accused engaged in cyber-stalking by circulating the retiree’s nude picture on a Whatspp group.

    He added that the teenager also circulated the nude pictures of the retired permanent secretary on other social media platforms after an unsuccessful attempt to extort N15 million from him.

    According to Uchendu, the accused made and circulated nude images of the retired permanent secretary on social media on Sept. 14 in contravention of the Cybercrimes Prohibition Act of 2015.

    The teenager pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    Her counsel, Andrew Arthur, applied for her bail from DSS custody where she had been kept for 13 days.

    Arguing the bail application, Arthur told the court that the defendant had earlier been arraigned for criminal defamation on the same offence and granted bail by a Bayelsa High Court.

    He said that the DSS regrettably declined to release her on bail and chose to approach the Federal High Court to institute a fresh charge.

    Opposing the bail application, Uchendu said that he was served the bail document in the courtroom and needed time to study it to respond to issues raised therein.

    The trial judge, Justice I. H. Ndahen, ordered the teenager to be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Yenagoa until Oct. 21 to hear the bail application.

  • Bayelsa High Court strikes out community’s stay of execution over chairmanship tenure

    Bayelsa High Court strikes out community’s stay of execution over chairmanship tenure

    The Bayelsa High Court sitting in Yenogoa has struck out a stay of execution order by Koluama 1 community over chairmanship tenure administration on oil bloc 1 and 11.

    The presiding judge, Justice M.A Ayemieye in her ruling struck out the stay of execution order which clearly violates the Constitution of the eight communities in the Rural Area Foundation, koluama I Community in the Koluama I and II bloc cannot occupy and enjoy the position of Chairman of the Keffes Rural Development Foundation for a consecutive 2nd term, having occupied the same position in the preceding tenure.

    The case which was initiated by an Originating Summons filed on the 28th of January, 2021 wherein the Court was called upon to determine the following issues whether, by virtue of the provisions of Section 49(1), (2), and (3) of the Constitution of Keffes Rural Development Foundation 2011 (as amended in 2016), a Community (Koluama I) that had occupied the
    position of Chairman in the preceding tenure/administration can occupy the same position of Chairman in the subsequent administration?

    Whether, by virtue of the forgoing provisions of the aforesaid Constitution, Executive Council offices including the office of
    Chairman in the Keffes Rural Development Foundation are occupied on rotational basis in line with duly established bloc/groupings
    recognized in Schedule IV of the Constitution of the Keffes Foundation 2011 (as amended in 2016), and the constituent communities therein?

    If the answers to question 1 above is in the negative and the answer to question 2 is in the affirmative, then the Claimant claims as follows:

    (a) A Declaration to the effect that koluama I Community in the Koluama I and II bloc cannot occupy and enjoy the position of Chairman of the Keffes Rural Development Foundation for a
    consecutive 2nd term, having occupied the same position in the preceding tenure/administration.

    The crux of the matter as stated indicate that Koluama 1 after occupying the chairmanship for a tenure of four years through Sele Pri Matthew the outgone chairman, he still wants to take the turn of Koluama 2.

    The 8 host communities are: (1) Koluama (1) (2) Koluama 2. (3) Ekeni. (4) Foropa. (5) Fish town. (6) Ezetu 1. (7) Ezetu 2. (8) Sangana.

    The judge awarded no cost to the claimants in his ruling of October 7.

    See judgement below:

  • Abductors release father of LG boss in Bayelsa

    Abductors release father of LG boss in Bayelsa

    The Police Command in Bayelsa has confirmed the release of Chief Gbalipre Turner by his abductors.

    The 70-year-old father of the Chairman of Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa, Marvin Turner, was abducted on Sept. 5, at Kpansia, Yenagoa.

    In a statement on Saturday, the command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), SP Asinmi Butswait, said the victim was released at Oluasiri, Nembe Bassambiri, in Nembe LGA of Bayelsa.

    Butswait said that the victim was hale and hearty and had been reunited with his family.

    He said that Police operatives had earlier mounted pressure on the kidnappers which led to the release of the victim.

    The PRO added that the suspects had been identified and efforts were ongoing to apprehend them.

    He explained that the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa Command, CP Echeng E. Echeng, had ordered officers to sustain the ongoing investigation to arrest the suspects.