FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
Pages 25
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Cross River rate Page 27 ‘My grouse about Governor Amaechi’ hike threatens Page 40 ‘Jonathan won’t return in 2015’ UNICEM’s, other firms’ Page 37 Omo-Agege: by-election Urhobo affair future Page 26 Concern over NDDC board members •PAGE 26
•Lenoir
Water everywhere in Bayelsa, but none to drink
Tension as Cross River holds council polls tomorrow
From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa
From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar
S
ENATE Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba once attributed the peace in Cross River State to its lack of resources. He said the peace was due to the fact that it does not have many rich people. “Lack of resources have compelled our togetherness,” he said. He gave an instance of “some states” where one can count at least thirty people who are richer than the government and the kind of crisis being faced in “those states”. He expressed pride coming from a state where no such rancour can be found. The point he was trying to make was the fact that despite all the wrangling in the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had led to its balkanisation, the party in the state remains one. Cross River State has been known as peaceful, not just when there is no political activity. Even during elections, calm still persists. But, whether it is peace of the graveyard, unfolding events in the political landscape of the state, especially the local government elections coming up tomorrow will tell. The disqualification of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local government elections and the party’s struggle to remain relevant as far as the council polls are concerned will be a major test for the peace. The Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission( CROSIEC), Sir Patrick Otu, said the APC was not qualified to field candidates for the elections elections since it was not up to 90 days old. But, the APC went to court to challenge its non-inclusion in the election and sought an extension of election date. The opposition party says the court process is being deliberately delayed so the election will be conducted without it. Already, the tension in the air is palpable. CROSIEC chairman told reporters that the elections would still go on tomorrow come what may. A chieftain of the APC, Cletus Obun, said the security agencies should hold the electoral umpire responsible for the breakdown of law and order. He said: “CROSIEC cannot screen and collect fees from candidates and turn around to bar them from contesting election simply because their party changed name. All the candidates and aspirants of parties to merge notified CROSIEC on July 12 and they acknowledged receipt on July 17 and on July 31, APC was registered. “They had enough time to print fresh election materials and everything they had to do. They had ignored all these and are hell bent on excluding APC. Yet APC has participated in elections under 20 days in Offa in Kwara. It has received and sent its nomination to INEC in Anambra State for the governorship elections. Anambra State governorship election includes APC. APC was less than 30 days when Senator Chris Ngige was nominated and went through primaries that was monitored and supervised by INEC that registered APC.” Obun said CROSIEC lacked the power to exclude any registered political party from elections in Nigeria. He warned that the election umpire was planning chaos. He added: “What they are doing is going to bring about a breakdown of law and order in Cross River State because APC has been unjustly and illegally excluded from participating in elections, and as citizens we have the right to vote and be voted for as a duly registered political party in Nigeria. No law bars us because our colleagues in other states have participated in elections even earlier than we are about to do. So, there is no foundation and legal backing to exclude APC in Cross River State.” A councillorship candidate of the APC in Obanliku Local Government Area, Boniface Evuo, said: “The achievement of peace is a responsibility of the leaders and followers. Leaders should consider if any action they are about to take is such that would lead to crisis. “Personally, I have been preparing for this election for the past three years and in the dying minutes, you are telling me that I cannot contest. It cannot happen. This is becoming too much. APC was accommodated in the Offa election in Kwara State and the Senatorial election in Delta State; why must Cross River be different? Is it because they refer to us as a woman’s state and that nobody would talk? “This is the only state people are not just going to sit down and take decisions and expect it to be binding on everybody. They have chosen to impoverish us to achieve their aim. It is not going to be. We will fight them to the end. This time around it is not going to be business as usual. There must be a change.” The election is expected to go ahead tomorrow and is widely held to be an all PDP affair. But, going by unfolding developments, it is clear that its fallout will continue to reverberate.
‘They have chosen to impoverish us to achieve their aim. It is not going to be. We will fight them to the end. This time around it is not going to be business as usual. There must be a change’
R
•Niger Delta Minister Godsday Orubebe
Calabar-Lagos Coastal Road… A dream aborted? •SEE STORY ON PAGE 28
ESIDENTS of Igbede Street, Yenagoa, the capital city of waterside Bayelsa State, had their early morning sleep interrupted on Monday. A landlord of one of the buildings and his tenant were at daggers drawn. They raised their voices and quarrelled with each other in a disagreement that lasted over an hour. The bone of contention? Water. The tenant, an innocent-looking slim dark man, was visibly angry with his landlord for not allowing him access to a borehole in the compound. But, the landlord adamantly asked his aggrieved tenant to look for water elsewhere. That is the frustration in Yenagoa and other parts of Bayelsa. There is scarcity of pipe-borne water, a basic amenity, not just in Yenagoa but in other parts of the state. Though the state will on October 1 mark her 17th birthday, it will do so without potable water for her residents. Experts say the state has no business with water scarcity citing its geographical location. Of the 15 water outlets that get to the sea, 13 are from the state. Bayelsa has more rivers than Rivers State and is more deltaic than Delta State. In fact, the state is said to be squarely in the Delta. Apart from that, scholars say 2500mm to 3000mm of rains fall annually in the state making it the most rainy part of the country. Despite these advantages, residents in the state groan and gnash their teeth over lack of usable water. A landlord, who identified himself simply as Lazarus, blamed water scarcity on the alleged irresponsibility of the government. He said previous administrations lacked the commitment to provide water for the people. He said: “Since the creation of this state, no government has shown seriousness to make public water work in the state. One of the functions of the government is to provide basic amenities for the citizens. “Despite hope, basic water is and in spite of how rich this state is, no government has been able to provide a functional public water works. It is unfortunate. But we hope that the present administration of Governor Seriake Dickson will solve this problem.” But people have capitalised on the vacuum created by the government to make brisk business. Such persons who are mainly nonindigenes from the northern and eastern parts of the country make their living by satisfying residents’ endless needs for water. •continued from page 37
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