Bayelsa with only 8 LGs is fraud — Chief Guembe

YENAGOA — CHAIRMAN of the Bayelsa State Founding Fathers Forum and the Olotu of Aleibiri Kingdom, Ekeremor Local Government Area of the State, Chief (Dr) Benedict Illesha Guembe, says it is deceitful for the state to still remain with only eight local governments more than two decades after creation.

“Bayelsa State with just eight local government areas is a fraud against the people of the state, which is to tell you that the state was created with reluctance. It was God that forced the powers that be to create the state,” he declared in a chat with NDV.

Committee recommended 25 LGs: He said: “I will tell you from our records that the committee set up by the Bayelsa State Movement recommended 25 local governments areas for the state; we even felt that the 25 was not enough. We were celebrating when they announced the creation and they said that the local government areas would be announced sooner and when they announced, they mentioned just eight local government areas. It is a fraud.

1999 Constitution used to scam Bayelsa: “And to circumvent the provision, instead of following the 1979 Constitution which stipulates a minimum of 10 local government areas, the 1999 Constitution now listed the names of the local government areas to sidestep it, and as far as we are concerned, it is a scam.”

“When I was secretary general of the forum, we submitted a memo at the National Assembly where we asked for more than 30 local government areas because this is the area that has the wealth and can sustain that number, and the environment and ecology of this place requires more local government areas because to travel to a local government headquarters like in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor local governments, you pay thousands of naira and it does not make sense as a local government area.

“When we were looking for the creation of Bayelsa state, we started with the Niger Delta State Movement in the 1980s, then I was a final year student but I was made the president of the Movement for the creation of Niger Delta state. I was shuttling between my lectures and meetings and we were able to launch that movement at Odi. A lot of people doubted us at that time, but God at the fullness of time convinced the powers that be.

Critics proved wrong: “Do you know that a lot of people at that time said that the creation of Bayelsa State was a mistake? I know of a professor and an army general, who said that creating Bayelsa State was a mistake but God made it possible that those types of people were kept somewhere when the state creation was announced; otherwise they would have torpedoed it,” he asserted.

Chief Guembe maintained: “We are still fighting, we do not have the resources but money does not really matter because when we got Bayelsa state, we did not have much money, but the state came and all the doubting Thomases were surprised and even taken aback because they did not give us the mandate to fight for the creation of Bayelsa State.

Plan to storm International Court: “However, we felt it was the only thing we could do for our people. Our memo is with the National Assembly and at the appropriate time, with some resources, we will go to the International Court to address the situation.”

On the resort to International Court, the elder statesman said: “There are only three senators and five House of Representatives members from Bayelsa State, they are hamstrung. But a country like Nigeria needs to sit up and correct some of the imbalances that the people have been crying about since 1957. Our National Assembly members cannot do more except the whole country feels that we have been cheated and move to correct it.

“That is why I said that when we get the needed money, we will take the Federal Government to the International Court to articulate our demands for more local government areas because the National Assembly as presently constituted, and the Constitution stipulates that for anything to be amended, we need about one third or two thirds of the State Houses of Assembly and we do not have the resources to go about all that, but this fraud must be corrected someday.”

We expect more: Despite his dissatisfaction with the number of local governments in the state, the founding father told NDV: “Development is a dynamic concept. If you had visited this state before the creation, this place was a forest, but development is gradual. Our dream as founding fathers was more than this but there is always a difference between reality and expectations. We thank God for the creation of Bayelsa and what are going on, but we expected more to have happened, we are trying but we ought to do much more than what is on ground.”

No need for furore over African University: Speaking on the controversy over the plan by the state governor, Seriake Dickson, to establish another university, African University at Toru Orua, his hometown, he said: “When I was the pioneer secretary general of the Izon Students in 1978, the secondary schools in this area were so few that I could count them. After Chief Melford Okilo’s administration, there was a significant improvement in the number of secondary schools. Today we have the Niger Delta University, NDU, and Federal University, Otuoke.

“If the state is going for another university, it is not much when you compare the density of the universities in the western part of the country and that is why they are producing the manpower that is sustaining them. The economy is bad I agree, but if the university is established and the funds are there to run it, I do not have any quarrel with that provided it does not affect the NDU. “The new university and NDU must go on but the fees must be affordable. They should not turn it to a private university. Any university that is state- owned, the fees must be affordable so that the common man can send their kids to school. If you do not fund both institutions well, it is like a man trying to take a second wife when the first wife is still suffering,” he said

Dickson trying, should do more: Assessing Governor Dickson performance so far, he asserted: “He is a young man and he is trying, these are difficult times but he should do more.”

I hear of non-payment of salaries, they should try and pay the workers, this state is dependent on salaries and when the salaries are not paid, people cannot pay their house rent and some people who survive from collecting rents will also suffer. Whatever is going on, salary payment should come first, and then other things can follow based on availability of resources.”

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