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Members of various non-governmental organisations and civil society groups in Bayelsa State, on Wednesday, staged a peaceful protest over the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in some parts of the state. Comrade Toitoi Newton of the Grassroots For Development, who led the protest to the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Yenagoa, told journalists that the CSOs demand a cancellation of the purported results from Constituency 4 in Southern Ijaw council and Nembe-Bassambiri in Nembe council where election materials were carted away. According to Comrade Newton, elections did not hold in the seven wards of Nembe-Bassambiri due to the violence orchestrated by political thugs aided by security personnel deployed in the community. He said the people were disenfranchisised as they were chased away from their communities on the day of the election. Comrade Stephen Seleke of the Advocacy for Peace also said anything contrary to t

Dear citizens of Nigeria, It has come to my knowledge that a number of Nigerians citizens are verified, by local and international observers, to have died since the election began on Saturday, February 23, 2019. Even more citizens have been wounded, maimed or in some way affected by the violence perpetuated by some misguided persons in our midst. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the departed and those affected by the violence. I have also initiated steps to assist those in need of medical or other assistance. Even one death is too much for me to accept. I hold the life of every Nigerian and indeed everyone one in Nigeria as sacrosanct. I call on all Nigerians to remember the words of former President Goodluck Jonathan, which I quoted on February 13, 2019, “My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian’. And it is not just my ambition. I amplify that statement today and declare to Nigeria and the world that NOBODY’s political ambition is worth t

Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Seriake Dickson has accused the military authorities particularly the General Officer Commanding, 6th Division of the Nigerian Army of subverting the will of the people in the electoral process in the state. Governor Dickson who made the accusation during a Media chat in Yenagoa, decried unlawful orders issued by the GOC to officers and men who provided cover for APC leaders and thugs to carry out electoral fraud in some parts of the state.   The Governor condemned the killings and hijacking of electoral materials in areas such as Bassambiri, Oluasiri, Opu Nembe, Agbere, Oweikorogha, Apoi, Azuzuama and Korokorosei. He said that APC leader, Chief Timipre Sylva and an Oil Surveillance Contractor, Kodjo, has taken electoral officer’s hostage at Darius Hotel, Bassambiri, describing the acts as terrorism, He therefore called on the Independent Electoral Commission to reject results from the affected areas to promote the int

Afenifere condemns in the strongest terms the political violence visited on Nigerians of Ndigbo extraction in Lagos during the Saturday Presidential elections.  Dirty political merchants and their band of thugs apart from engineering political disenfranchisement of Ndigbo,went ahead to visit violence on them and burning their votes en masse. The political vandals they used were said to have been calling themselves OPC but our checks with the genuine leaders of the group have shown that the deragend elements had no affiliation with the OPC known by Afenifere. We frown seriously at the failure of the security agencies to give adequate cover to Ndigbo in the affected communities as these thugs went berserk carrying out the instructions of their sinking political godfathers. We want to assure our Igbo Brothers and Sisters that the bond of friendship the Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have built particularly under the dynamic leadership of Chief John Nwodo remains strong an

Former Governor òf Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, and an oil Surveillance Contractor in Nembe local government Kodjo Sam   led APC thugs to shoot throughout Friday night with the intent to seize electoral materials for Nembe Local Government Area. The State Chairman òf the PDP, Chief Moses Cleopas, said in a statement that Sylva and Kodjo continued the violence and hijacked materials for seven wards in Bassambiri and the ones for Oluasiri, Nembe Local Government Area on Saturday morning. Moses said that the rampaging APC thugs aided by soldiers on deployment in the area have taken the hijacked electoral materials to Darius Hotel, Bassambiri for thumb-printing. He urged the security commanders to demonstrate their avowed impartiality by proceeding to Darius Hotel, Bassambiri, where the electoral fraud was taking place. The PDP Chairman called on the Indepedent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to note the violence and the thuggery in the area and cance

Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson will tomorrow lead other notable Nigerians to embark on the inaugural flight into the Bayelsa International Airport. According to a statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the governor will fly into the airport in a Boeing 737 aircraft operated by AIR PEACE AIRLINE. Iworiso-Markson said the aircraft which will take off from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos will touch down on the 3.5km runway of the airport at about one o'clock in the afternoon He noted that the epoch-making inaugural flight which coincides with the seventh anniversary of the Dickson administration is indeed a watershed in the developmental trajectory of the state. The Spokesman of the Restoration Government stated that the airport project which was undertaken solely by the Restoration Administration led by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson will bring the world to Bayelsa and

The Governor of Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has said that Bayelsa State under his leadership would not use public funds for electoral campaigns of whatever form. A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted the Governor as having made the comment while speaking with political appointees, leaders and candidates of the People’s Democratic Party in Yenagoa on Sunday. The Governor stressed that Bayelsa did not have any funds that could be committed to the funding of the campaigns of party candidates. According to him, the limited resources available in the state would be committed to the develop of state and her people. Dickson added that the funds available in the state were not even enough to carry out the desired development of the state and would not be wasted on politicking. He said that those in pursuit of political offices should be able to spend their money on the campaigns to actuali

The National Universities Commission has recognized the establishment of the Bayelsa Medical University, Yenagoa. The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, issued the letter of recognition of the varsity to a high-powered delegation led by the State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday. The Governors delegation comprised the Senator representing the Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Senator Foster Ogola, the Commissioner for Education, Hon. Jonathan Obuebite, the Vice Chancellor òf the Niger Delta University, Prof. Samuel Edonmiekumor, Bayelsa Medical University, Ebitimitula Etebu, the Project Coordinator Bayelsa Medical University, Mr. Bennaiah Oye, the Acting Registrar, Dr. Akpoebi Adesi  A statement by the Special Adviser, Media Relations to the Governor òf Bayelsa State, Fidelis Soriwei, quoted Prof. Rasheed as having said that the NUC had recognized the Bayelsa Medical University as the 4