AKANIMO SAMPSON

SACK BAYELSA GOVERNOR, ACTIVISTS TELL JONATHAN, LEGISLATORS
* Its Childish, Says Timipre Sylva's Administration

CIVIL society and insurgent organisations operating in Bayelsa State, one of the rich oil and gas states of the Niger Delta, appear to have loss confidence in the Timipre Sylva administration to deliver tangible dividend of democracy to citizens in the state.

While the Niger Delta Patriotic Front (NDPF), a radical group, is calling for an imposition of a state of emergency, the state wing of Save Nigeria Group (SNG) is pressing the state House of Assembly to impeach the governor for alleged gross violation of public trust and corrupt practices.

Mr. Dan Anderson, spokesperson for the NDPF told AkanimoReports in a telephone interview on Monday that their call for emergency rule in the state, has the support of some frontline insurgent networks like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Although he did not give much details, Anderson said, ''if President Goodluck Jonathan fails to impose emergency rule on his home state, he will wake up one day to discover that his state has become the centre of state-sponsored terrorism''.

Continuing, the NDPF spokesperson added, ''the next phase of violence conflict in Bayelsa state is likely to be worse than the uprising of militants before the inception of the amnesty''.

But, the authorities in Yenagoa, the state capital, are not shaken. Mr. Nathan Egba, spokesperson of the state government, told AkanimoReports in a text message that the clamour for emergency rule and the impeachment of Governor Sylva, was childish.

Mr. Doifie Ola, chief press secretary to Governor Sylva describes Mr. Egba as ''the overseer of the Bayelsa state Ministry of Information''.

According to Mr. Egba in his comment, ''one cannot be reacting to every childish statement reeking with ignorance that turns up''.

In the mean time, the SHG in an eight-point resolution signed by their Coordinator and Secretary, Messrs Tony Nathan and Tony Akenge respectively are condemning the alleged embezzlement of billions of naira belonging to Bayelsa citizens by the Sylva administration without any concrete projects in the state.

They are also claimig that the economic policies of the administration have impoverished the people and set the state many years backward.

Equally, one of the reasons they are pushing for the governor to be impeached is alleged fraudulent collection of a loan of N60 billion for the construction of three senatorial District Roads, electrification of some parts of the state and the reticulation of water scheme.

''Governor Sylva through a criminally crafted public Private Partnership (PPP) under took to complete an almost completed 500 bed hospital built by Governor DSP Alamieyeigha and Goodluck Jonathan administrations'', the SNG alleged, adding, ''we are very much alarmed by this massive looting of Bayelsa State funds’’ the body said , and vowed to embark on street protests within 14 days if the Governor was not impeached''.

Continuing, they said, ''this is the time for the Bayelsa state House of Assembly to rise to the occasion and Save Bayelsa state from this quagmire and its negative attendances''

According to them, ''where are the hundreds of millions stolen from the Bayelsa State treasury in the name of quick- win jobs that were neither awarded nor executed, where is the N3.4 billion of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s loot that was returned by EFCC to Bayelsa state Government’’ wondering why the money had not been applied yet to infrastructural development of the state, instead of a Transparency House the government is claiming to build?''

They are not yet done. ''In a state surrounded by water'', they went on, ''residents spend over N200 daily in buying jerry cans of water from mairua { Hausa water sellers }, which is now a lucrative business in Yenagoa city and its environs''.

SNG said at the expiration of their 14-day ultimatum for the state legislators to play ball, they will embark on a peaceful mass protest, saying it is a right for us to know how our state is being governed. That’s what we are doing.

The group counseled the governor to stop accusing President Jonathan for his current travails and should render account of his stewardship in a bid to clear his name and save the state the embarrassment and poverty his administration has caused the good and humble people of Bayelsa state.
ENDS