…..Says the senate is indirectly raising objections to the forensic audit

An accountability advocacy group, the Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative has reiterate her surprise at what the group termed “unusual interest” of the National Assembly in the tenure of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as expressed in her last press release.

According to the group, “Citizens Quest, as an accountability advocacy group, would have ordinarily welcomed the probe committee set up by the Senate on 13th May, 2020, but considering the timing, it is hard to accept.”

The group opined that, “this is not for any other reason but the fact that there is currently an on going forensic audit, instituted by President Buhari, on that commission. It is therefore a surprise that the Senate would rather probe an organization already being probed by an arm of the same Government.”

A statement jointly signed by Chief Obiaruko Ndukwe; President Citizens Quest and Francis Ndimkoha its National Publicity Secretary and circulated to journalists stated, “to a large extent, the Senate is not only setting up a conflict of interests with the Executive, but also, indirectly raising objections to the forensic audit.”

The statement further read: “Citizens Quest believes that the Senate could as well move a motion to the effect that whatever area of their interest, if not covered by the terms of reference given to the forensic auditors.

“We are worried that the IMC will rather be distracted in their mandate to the Niger Delta, faced by various probe teams. This is inimical to to the development of the region, which the senate claims to favour. This probe, coming at a time the commission has taken delivery and about to distribute Covid19 Test kits and set up test centers in the 27 Senatorial districts of the region, is anything but well intended.

“Again, we are shocked that a senate that has refused to lend a voice to the clarion call by Citizens Quest and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, for urgent attention and completion of the abandoned East-West highway. This is a flagship project of the region, which is now comatose.

“We yearn for an effective NDDC, probably, more than any other individual or group has done in recent times, and we urge the Senate to support the speedy conclusion of the Forensic audit, while allowing the IMC the needed concentration to function.”

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
President and Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria

Dear Mr. President,

RE: ADDRESSING THE CONTINUED INJUSTICE AGAINST THE NIGER DELTA PEOPLE VIZ. THE LOPSIDED APPOINTMENTS IN THE NNPC AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES/DEPARTMENTS
Firstly, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to you on the passing of Mallam Abba Kyari, your late Chief of Staff. We supplicate the Almighty for the repose of his soul, and the souls of all our country men and women who have died as result of the corona virus pandemic. We commiserate with the families and loved ones of the deceased, while we wish all who are currently undergoing treatment speedy recovery. It is our hope that government and all citizens would take even greater responsibility to stem the spread of the virus in the country, and soonest, make Nigeria COVID-19 free, by the grace of Almighty God.

Your Excellency, it is for the COVID-19 situation, and particularly, the unfortunate demise of Mallam Abba Kyari that we had restrained ourselves from writing this letter to you before now. But we are compelled do so at this time, and aware of the constraints and strict protocols that we may encounter if established procedures were to be engaged, we elected this medium.

Mr. President, the leadership of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has in the last two months, again been inundated with complaints over the continued seemingly deliberate and calculated sidelining of indigenes of the Niger Delta region in appointments and redeployments in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its subsidiaries. These objections have amplified following the recent promotions and reorganization in the Corporation, made in March 2020 that further isolated the Niger Delta people from the mainstream management structure of the NNPC.

Your Excellency, we recall that an avalanche of condemnations from the Niger Delta/South-South greeted the vexatious composition of the NNPC BOARD that you constituted in 2016, where out of the 9 members of the Board only one person was from the South-South in the person of Dr. Thomas M. A. John from Cross River State, apart from the Minister of State, Petroleum, and one person from the South-West. The rest were all from the Northern zones of the country; with three persons from the North East zone, including the then Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru from Bauchi state and of course, Mr. President’s late Chief of Staff, who was a member of the Board until his demise, three persons from the North West zone, and one person from the North Central zone. The South-East zone, an oil producing zone, had no representation in the NNPC Board.

The lopsided NNPC Management later effected a re-organization in September 2017 that left the Region more estranged.

PANDEF put up Advertorials and Press Statements in national Newspapers against the marginalization of the region, at the time. Further to that, the National Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum and Distinguished Elder Statesman, Chief Dr. Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, CON, OFR, held Press Conferences and urged Mr. President to re-visit the provocative appointments and promotions in the NNPC and its subsidiaries, in the interest of peace, equity and justice. Other patriotic and eminent Nigerians also spoke against the illiberality and imbalances in the Corporation.
Nothing was done by Mr. President. Your administration played dumb to the protestations and genuine concerns raised by well-meaning Nigerians from within and outside the Niger Delta region.

Your Excellency, we had thought the prejudicial actions would end with your first term, and that there would be broader approach to the conduct of State affairs in your second term. Sadly, it is not so; the trend has continued, like a canon whose end leads back to the beginning.

Today, under Mr. President’s watch, the paradoxical and dismal reality is that in the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, through which the federal government regulates and participates in the country’s petroleum industry that operates in our backyards, virtually all top MANAGEMENT POSITIONS OF THE CORPORATION and its subsidiaries, Departments, and Ventures, are held by persons from the Northern zones of the country that do not produce an ounce of Oil, to the exclusion of indigenes of oil producing Communities of Niger Delta region.

KEY MANAMEGENT POSITIONS HELD BY NORTHERNERS IN NNPC
1. Mele Kolo Kyari – Group Managing Director, GMD
2. Umar Isa Ajiya – Chief Finance Officer, Finance & Account
3. Yusuf Usman – Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power
4. Farouk Garba Sa’id – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services
5. Mustapha Y. Yakubu – Chief Operating Officer, Refining and Petrochemicals
6. Hadiza Y. Coomassie – Corporate Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Corporation
7. Omar Farouk Ibrahim – GGM, International Energy Relations, IER
8. Kallamu Abdullahi – GGM, Renewable Energy
9. Ibrahim Birma – GGM, Governance Risk and Compliance
10. Bala Wunti – GGM, NAPIMS
11. Inuwa Waya – MD, NNPC Shipping
12. Musa Lawan – MD, Pipelines & Product Marketing, PPMC
13. Mansur Sambo – MD, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC
14. Lawal Sade – MD, Duke Oil/NNPC Trading Company
15. Malami Shehu – MD, Port Harcourt Refining Company
16. Muhammed Abah – MD, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company
17. Abdulkadir Ahmed – MD, Nigeria Gas Marketing Company
18. Salihu Jamari – MD, Nigeria Gas and Power Investment Company Limited
19. Mohammed Zango – MD, NNPC Medical Services
20. Sarki Auwalu – Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR

The Oil Producing zones of South-South, South East and South West are left with one Chief Operating Officer Position each, and a few senior and middle level management positions in peripheral and incidental subsidiaries, departments and divisions of the Corporation.
The NNPC Board subsists as was constituted in 2016 without changes, apart from the Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari from Borno state, who replaced Maikanti Bari as Group Managing Director in July 2019. AND MR. PRESIDENT REMAINS THE PETROLEUM MINISTER.
The management pattern in NNPC is replicated in all other Oil Related Agencies such as Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), Petroleum Equalization Fund, and etcetera.
Employment into the NNPC and other related Agencies is not anything different. While young graduates of the Niger Delta region with degrees in petroleum engineering and allied fields remain jobless, Northerners with degrees in history are working as managers in the NNPC.
Ironically, the South South zone produces about 95% of the Nigeria’s crude oil Resources, which account for over 90% of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. The effects of oil exploration on the hitherto luxurious ecosystem of the Niger Delta, and damage done to the indigenous people’s means of livelihood with little, if any, improvement in their standard of living, are sad verities that make the situation in the NNPC more vexing.
Nigeria’s Crude Oil production figures by State
1. Akwa Ibom 504,000 bpd – 31.4%
2. Delta 346,000 bpd – 21.56%
3. Rivers 344,000 bpd – 21.43%
4. Bayelsa 290,000 bpd – 18.07%
5. Edo 33,000 bpd – 2.06%
6. Ondo 60,000 bpd – 3.74%
7. Imo 17,000 bpd – 1.06%
8. Abia 11,000 bpd – 0.68%

OIL PRODUCTION IN THE NORTHERN ZONES = 0%

Chapter 2, Section 14 (3) of the Nation’s Constitution, which Mr. President swore on oath to uphold and defend, provides that “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
Mr. President, can the NNPC management configuration promote national unity or national loyalty? Doesn’t it go against the spirit and letters of the Constitution?
Regrettably, the uncouth discriminative bias against the Niger Delta region is even being perpetuated in the current efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the country, and in the dispensation of palliatives to vulnerable citizens by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal government.
Concerning the $311 million US Dollars Abacha loot recently returned from the United States, which your administration said has been allocated to projects; including the second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways, as well as the Mambilla Power Project in North East zone; no project in the South South zone is listed.
These situations further bolster the Niger Delta peoples’ demand for not only adequate participation in the management, administration, and dispensation of the resources nature has richly endowed our lands but also for the RESTRUCTURING of the country. And we will not stop; confident that someday the sun will shine on us.
Mr. President need not be apprised that the People of the Niger Delta region have nothing against any part of the country. But this gross injustice against the people who bear the brunt of the oil exploration and exploitation activities in their land must stop. The region has been a “good friend” to all parts of the country, particular to Northern Nigeria. More so, the Region has demonstrated tremendous patriotism and goodwill towards your Administration. Unfortunately, instead of appropriately reciprocating the gesture of the Niger Delta people by addressing the genuine demands of the Region as encapsulated in the 16-Point Demand that was presented by PANDEF to Mr. President on 1st November 2016, what we see is further alienation and distancing by the Federal Government and its agencies.
Your Excellency, the purpose of this letter, therefore, is to again highlight these gross disproportions to you, with the imploration that Mr. President should, in the interest of fairness, equity, PEACE and POSTERITY, correct the anomalies and give all Regions and Zones of the Country due sense of belonging; especially the Niger Delta region. It is imperative that every effort should be employed to ensure that the subsisting peace in the Niger Delta region is sustained, in the context of the COVID-19 impact on the global economy and falling crude oil price.
Lastly, may we decorously request Mr. President to note that there is a burden on you to urgently address these palpable defects of your administration, and bequeath a worthwhile legacy; such that in the years to come, when citizens reminisce on the tenure of your presidency, the contemplations would not be distorted by unnerving shadows of nepotism, bias and injustice.
We note that Mr. President recently forwarded a list of nominees for the Federal Character Commission to the Senate for confirmation; with two nominees from the Northern zones of the country designated for Chairman and Secretary of the Commission. These actions undermine national cohesion and unity. We cannot continue to run Nigeria in such manner.
Luckily, Mr. President has sufficient time, of about three years, to alter the chronicle and theme it in the direction of equity and social justice. May the Creator of heaven and earth guide you to do the required.
Thank you, Mr. President, and kindly accept the assurances of our highest esteem.

Happy Ramadan!

Sincerely,

Hon. Ken Robinson
National Publicity Secretary
Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF
09058444601

CC:

1. Senator Ahmed Lawan, Senate President
2. Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of Representatives
3. Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy Senate President
4. Chairmen, Senate Committees on Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
5. Chairmen, House Committees on Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
6. HE, Udom Emmanuel, Governor of Akwa Ibom State
7. HE, Senator Douye Diri, Governor of Bayelsa State
8. HE, Prof. Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River State
9. HE, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State
10. HE, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State
11. HE, Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State
12. HE, Dr, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
13. HE, Chief Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo
14. HE, General Ibrahim Babangida rtd
15. HE, General Abdulsalami Abubakar rtd
16. General T. Y. Danjuma rtd
17. Chairmen of Traditional Rulers’ Councils of the six South South States
18. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman, APC

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N683m to acquire new vehicles for Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the virtual FEC meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amaechi said the council approved a memo for the award of contract in the sum N683 million for the purchase of 19 vehicles for Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

According to him, this is the first time in four years the NPA will be buying any vehicle, reasons for the approval.

He added that the sixteen vehicles are for operational purposes and not for the management staff, NAN reports.

“This is the first time in four years that NPA is buying any vehicle and that is why the council said, fine.

“These are operational vehicles; they are not for management staff; they are all Toyota vehicles,’’ Amaechi added

Member representing Jos South/Jos East in the Federal House of Representatives, Rep. Dachung Musa Bagos has decried the alleged extra judicial killing of one of his constituents, Rinji Peter.

Representative Baggos is therefore calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct heads of security agencies implicated in the human rights abuses and killing of innocent Nigerians to immediately fish out the perpetrators for prosecution and punishment according to law.

Recall that on Tuesday May 12 , 2020, Rep. Nkeiruka C. Onyejeocha and Rep. Dachung Musa Bagos, moved a motion urgently calling for an immediate stoppage of Human Rights Abuses and Extra-Judicial Killing in the country by security operatives. The lawmaker decried the increasing wave of criminality against Nigerian citizens whose lives they (security operatives) were ironically meant to protect.

“Security agencies including the Nigeria Police Force, the military and para-military agencies were saddled with the responsibility of enforcing compliance with the lockdown within the limits of their rules of engagement having regard for human the rights of the citizens.”

“That within the initial period of the lockdown, security operatives had, according to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC); extra-judicially killed 18 innocent Nigerians in Abia, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau and Niger States”, the lawmakers stated.

He advocates that the House of Representatives Committees on Police Affairs, Defence, Interior and Human Rights to investigate the abuses, killings and their prosecution. He further recalled that a similar situation happened sometimes last year where a young man was allegedly shot dead by a security agent for not paying for a N50 egg.

Rep. Bagos sympathises with the family of Mr. Rinji Peter and prayed that God comfort the entire family. He further enjoined his constituents to always be law abiding and obey all constituted authorities, the social distancing policy, wash their hands regularly and stay safe. End.

Niger State Government is in talks with security agencies to end banditry in some parts of the State.

Governor Sani Bello who made this assertion while addressing journalists at the Government House, Minna called for useful and prompt information on activities of Bandits and their informants.

He noted that the State has been confronted with security challenges in recent times and that the government will not relent in doing everything possible to ensure that it ends them.

The governor applauded efforts of the security agencies and the vigilantes but acknowledged that the efforts were being sabotaged by some informants within the affected communities, noting that the bandits are working with highly placed members of the affected communities.

He urged the people to support the government in the fight against the bandits by reporting the informants that are giving out the strategies of the security men and their movement, thereby aiding the bandits to evade being overrun.

He called on the people to give prompt information to the security agencies noting that with proper knowledge the fight against the bandits will
be successful.

“But I can assure you that all hands are on deck to ensure that we provide for a safe and secure environment in Niger State”, he said.

According to him, some of the biggest problems that the state is having is its size and forest which have given the bandits opportunity to rustle cows and kidnap people in the affected areas.

He listed the major local government areas affected to include, Mariga, Munya, Rafi ,Shiroro, and Lapai.

…project to provide 1,600 km of rural roads—Coordinator
…we promptly paid N350m fund to aid project—Makinde

Oyo State governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, revealed on Wednesday that his government promptly paid the counterpart fund for Development Partners-backed Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) to ensure accelerated development of the rural communities in the state.

The governor, who was speaking at the inauguration of the Project Monitoring and Technical Steering Committee, at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, said that the sum of N350 Million was paid two months into his tenure in office to facilitate the project.

The project, which was instituted in April 2016, had remained moribund as a result of the failure of the state to pay the 12 per cent counterpart fund required by the Development Partners including the World Bank, the French Development Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), among others.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted Makinde as saying that the RAAMP would ensure quality and durable roads that would open up the rural areas for business.

He said: “When we came in, we met the RAAM Project almost moribund because Oyo State couldn’t pay its own counterpart fund. Within two and half months of our administration, we provided the counterpart fund and we were able to get the project back on track.”

The project, which was meant to construct, rehabilitate and maintain over 1000 kilometres of rural roads across 33 Local Government Areas and 35 Local Council Development Areas of the state is aimed at linking the state’s Agro-logistic hubs for
economic and social development.

Governor Makinde said that the RAAMP is aimed at improving the standard of living of rural dwellers, ease access to transportation and enhance rural participation in economic development.

The governor further stated: “I want to congratulate the members of the committee… As a member of this committee, one thing we want to ensure is that quality is maintained.

“We don’t want situation like in the past whereby roads and critical infrastructure are constructed and before that administration will even leave office, the infrastructure would have got to a total state of decay and you will know that within a very short time, you won’t see those infrastructure again.

“A case in point is that we went to Eruwa this time last week, the road from Ologuneru to Eruwa, they are still working on it, it is yet to get to the final point at Eruwa, but we saw many sections of the road that have failed already. That is not what we want, quality has to be maintained.”

The governor also stated that besides the RAAMP, there are other opportunities the state is looking forward to in order to turn around the fortunes of the rural communities.
He said: “Apart from the RAAMP, we still have other opportunities, AfDB are still talking to us, and if, indeed, we are able to put pen to paper, Oyo State would become one of their Agro-processing centres and they will support infrastructure provision towards our rural areas.

“This is mango season; I have been to the innermost part of Oyo State. It is obvious that a lot of farm produce is being wasted. Until the farm produce gets to the people that need it, it is then the farmers can get quality for their produce.”

He added that the RAAMP is important to his administration because it was capable of enhancing its vision of expanding the economy, which he said is a major aspect of his administration’s objectives.

Earlier, the RAAMP coordinator, Dr. Moses Ayanlowo, said the project was aimed at internationalising the capacity and culture for coordination, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of rural road networks that will ensure an all year-round accessibility to farms and agro-logistic centres and markets.

He, however, appreciated the Makinde-led administration for paying the counterpart funds, which he said had debarred the State from benefiting from the RAAMP since 2016, noting that the project will bring profitable agricultural enterprise to the State.

In his address, the Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who also doubles as the Vice Chairman (Administration) for the steering committee, Hon. Ojemuyiwa Ojekunle, said the relaunching of the RAAMP was an indication of the1 current administration’s commitment to the agricultural sector.

He added that the initiative would encourage more investments in agribusiness and alleviate poverty for rural dwellers.

The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has given one Aluzu Augustine Ebikebuna seven days ultimatum to retract a defamatory publication against him or face a legal action.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo also wants Aluzu to tender an unreserved apology as failure to do so would leave him (Deputy Governor) with no option than to seek redress in a court of competent jurisdiction.

This is contained in a notice his lawyer, Clement B. Kekemeke Esq. of the SERENE SOLICITORS & ADVOCATES, served on Aluzu electronically via ebikebuna@gmail.com on Tuesday 12th May, 2020 in Yenagoa.

Recall that on the 9th of May, 2020, Aluzu published a press release on his Facebook account with the name “EBIKEBUNA AUGUSTINE ALUZU” wherein he linked the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State His Excellency-Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo with the alleged abduction of one “MR. SAINT MIENPAMO” by unknown gun men.

In the said press release, Aluzu indicted the Deputy Governor as follows:

“We believe that the abduction of MR. SAINT is not unconnected to his parallel position with the prosperity Government of Douye Diri on issues bothering on public importance in the state noting that this abduction came barely hours after he published that the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State has been served with a subpoena to appear before the Bayelsa State Governorship Election petition Tribunal.”

In a separate release Aluzu claimed that the said MR. SAINT MIENPAMO was detained in Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa; a falsehood he backed up with Coordinates of an uncertain geographic location as facts.

However, Mr. Saint Mienpamo had on Tuesday 12th May, 2020 punctured Aluzu and his army of propagandists claims that he was adducted and detained in Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, disclosing that he was only arrested by personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS), for publishing falsehood against the Governor of Kogi State, Yahyah Bello.

While the Deputy Governor is innocent of the allegation contained in his press release, the above quoted innuendoes suggest that he is responsible for the abduction of the said MR. SAINT MIENPAMO. It is pertinent to state that linking the Deputy Governor who is a legal practitioner of repute, a former Commissioner for Works in Bayelsa State, former Senator, Federal Republic of Nigeria and the incumbent Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State to the abduction of MR. SAINT MIENPAMO has reduced his social standing in the eyes of reasonable men.

The Deputy Governor has noted Aluzu’s unbridled activities of recent on the various social media platforms consistently peddling falsehood against him as well denigrating his person for no just cause.

It is in his interest to desist from and or halt his insatiable thirst for dragging the name of the Deputy Governor in the mud over a matter in which he has filed a petition in his capacity as a legal practitioner on behalf of the petitioner in EPT/BY/GOV/O2/2020-VIJAH ELDRED OPUAMA V. INEC & 3 ORS. The Deputy Governor assumes that by virtue of Aluzu’s training, he ought to know the consequences of consistently publishing a matter that is sub judice, particularly bearing in mind the fact that he is one of the petitioner’s counsel in the matter.

Aluzu Augustine Ebikebuna, upon receipt of the enclosed letter has Seven (7) days to immediately retract the publication in question by publishing same on his Facebook account on which he published the defamatory press release, already seen by over one thousand persons at the time of filing this report, IN HIS OWN INTEREST.

….Bayelsa DGov Promises to host all course mates after COVID-19 Saga

The Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has been commended for his forthrightness, outspokenness and passion for promoting the common good.

Class 98 Old students of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, resident in Bayelsa gave the commendation during a solidarity visit to the Deputy Governor in Government House ,Yenagoa.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor, Mr Doubara Atasi, described the visit as a convivial class reunion where speaker after speaker testified to the kindness, intelligence and progressive-mindedness of Senator Ewhrudjakpo.

Leader of the delegation, Mrs Florence Kenibara congratulated him on his emergence as the Deputy Governor, describing it as a divine arrangement for the state.

She appreciated God for elevating one of them to such an exalted position, noting that Senator Ewhrudjakpo’s rise from civil servant, commissioner, senator and now to deputy governor could only have been made possible by God.

Going down memory lane, Mrs Kenebara said Senator Ewhrudjakpo exhibited superlative academic performance as a coursemate in the Secretarial Administration Department of the University, which earned him nicknames such as “the great tutor” and “Professor”.

She said: I’m happy today, that God has further elevated him from being a senator to a Deputy Governor. You have made us proud and it is our prayer that God will take you higher and higher.

“We knew ourselves in the University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. We studied together. He was very intelligent so he used to teach us after our lecturers had left. So, he became our great tutorial lecturer.

“We were admitted in the same year and graduated together. We became very close because we are both from the same state and local government area, precisely from Sagbama.”

In his remarks, Alabo Sam Amabebe described the Bayelsa number two man as a kind and highly intelligent man who is always ready to assist in solving problems.

Alabo Amabebe expressed confidence that Senator Ewhrudjakpo would provide all necessary support to Governor Douye Diri to achieve the set objectives of the Prosperity Administration.

According to him, “He is a very nice man. When once he knows you, he takes you as his relation. Whatever help you need, he assists you, if it is within his reach.

“He was very brilliant in class and always likes finding solutions to problems. I believe he will do very well as a deputy Governor if Bayelsans give him the needed support.”

Also speaking, Mrs Meremubio Ikio called on Bayelsans to shun rumour mongering and engage themselves in meaningful activities that would move the state forward.

Mrs Ikio cautioned, “Our people should do away with this pull him down syndrome and habit of rumour mongering because it will take us nowhere. I know Mr Ewhrudjakpo that is deputy Governor today very well.

“We graduated together in 1998. In fact, we were to graduate in the 1995/96 session but we couldn’t do so because of a prolonged ASUU strike during the Abacha administration.”

Responding, the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo expressed gratitude to members of the Class 98 Secretarial Administration students of the Rivers State University for sustaining the warm relationship several years after graduation.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo particularly thanked the delegation for the visit and assured them of his determination to make his Alma Mater proud wherever he finds himself in life.

The Deputy Governor who promised to host an enlarged meeting of the group after the COVID-19 saga, enjoined his visitors to pass the message to other coursemates in Rivers State and beyond.