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*Urge 9th assembly to defend legislature's independence Bayelsa State Governor and Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has congratulated the newly elected leadership of the National Assembly and urged them to guarantee the independence of the legislature in accordance with democratic ethos. Governor Dickson also charged the new leadership to ensure that the rights of Nigerians are defended and well protected. The governor gave the charge in the forum's congratulatory message following Tuesday's inauguration of the national legislature and the election of Senators Ahmed Lawan as Senate President and Ovie Omo-Agege as Deputy Senate President. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Ahmed Wase were also respectively elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. The governor was quoted by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, as saying that what transpired in the National Assembly...

The National Working Committee (NWC)  of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after very extensive consultations with critical stakeholders resolves to support Senator Ali Ndume and Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago for Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives respectively, ahead of National Assembly inauguration on Tuesday. A statement from the National Secretary, Umaru Ibrahim Tsauri says that the party resolution on Senator Ndume and Hon. Bago was reached at the end of a decisive meeting of members of the National Working Committee, party leaders, state governors as well as senators and members-elect on the platform of the PDP.   This decision is in the best interest of the nation, in line with our party’s determination to deepen democracy, ensure a strong and independent legislature, strict compliance to the principle of separation of powers as well as constitutional checks and balances in the polity. All senators and members-elect on the platform of the PD...

*Says right candidate will emerge in PDP Bayelsa State Governor, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, on Monday, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the November 16 governorship election in the state would emerge through the right process and not by imposition. He advised aspirants who believe in imposition of candidates to have a rethink. Governor Dickson was quoted by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, to have stated this while speaking to journalists during a solidarity visit to the headquarters of Daar Communications Plc at Asokoro in Abuja. The broadcast licence of the media organisation was last Thursday suspended by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) but later lifted on the order of an Abuja High Court. The governor said any of the aspirants that has the experience and capacity should make their case to the party and Bayelsans. His words: “I led a party to victory against a vicious opposition. I can lead PDP to ...

A Port Harcourt-based frontline political pressure group, Universal Democracy Monitors, has condemned the recent public endorsement of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for the position of Deputy Senate President (DSP) of the Ninth National Assembly. In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday and signed by Messrs Richard Ogolo and Timi Oraka, the group’s National Chairman and Secretary-General respectively, it in very strong terms condemned the All Progressives Congress (South-South) Saturday endorsement of the Senator representing Delta Central, as the next DSP. The group in the statement said: “It is baffling, and we consider it the height of insensitivity that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who was accused in April 2018, of allegedly leading thugs to steal the mace of the Senate while plenary was ongoing, could now be the best option for the APC in the South South geo-political zone to present for the exalted position of DSP in our nation’s democracy”. “How will the international community rat...

Powered by a compelling vision of preparing his folks for a future beyond petroleum exploration and exploration with its peculiar, opaque challenges, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State established the Bayelsa Education Development Trust Fund (BYEDTF) as a structured, sustainable platform to anchor the states  educational development strides and more. Stanley Nkwazema examines the innovation Peering through the dark racial fog that defined his era, Nobel Peace Laureate and the first elected president of democratic South Africa, late Nelson Mandela, observed that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Mandela said: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine; that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what ...

…condemned the shut down and suspension of the operating licence of DAAR Communications Plc Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have expressed their readiness to pay the N30,000 minimum wage recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa, disclosed while speaking with newsmen at the end of the forum’s meeting which ended in the early hours of Friday in Abuja. He said that the governors were ready to pay the new minimum wage in order to alleviate the plight of workers in PDP-controlled states. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dickson called on President Buhari to expedite the process for the commencement of the payment of the new minimum wage by sending a bill to the incoming ninth National Assembly to review the revenue sharing formula of the country. “We are very eager as PDP governors to implement and pay the 30,000 naira minimum wage that the...