January 27, (THEWILL) – The Bayelsa State Government has said that it would not single out any traditional stool in the state for reclassification.
This is just as the government called on communities and clans clamouring for upgrade of their chieftaincy stools to be patient, as efforts are underway to conduct the reclassification exercise soon.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made this known when the traditional council of the Okugbe Isoko Kingdom in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state, paid him a courtesy visit at the government house, Yenagoa.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his media aide, Mr Doubara Atasi, at the weekend, informed that there were several pending cases of reclassification to be addressed by the government on the basis of fairness, equity and justice.
He, therefore, pleaded with the Okugbe Isoko traditional council to exercise more patience, as everything would be done to redress glaring cases of inconsistencies with the extant Bayelsa State Traditional Chieftaincy Law.
The deputy governor emphasised the need for the Okugbe Isoko Kingdom to unite and called on the traditional council not to rest on their oars, but forge unification among the various communities that constitute the clan.
Responding to some demands made by the delegation, Senator Ewhrudjakpo assured them that the government would grade the road connecting the communities in the area, and liaise with relevant agencies to post health personnel to Osifo and Osekwenike health centres.
On the issue of including the Isoko language in the news translation on Radio Bayelsa and the Niger Delta Television (NDtv), he directed the Commissioner for Information and Orientation to look into the request to keep the people better informed.
His words, “You raised quite a number of issues. On the issue of classification of your stool, we have discussed it both privately and officially. When it comes to the classification of chieftaincy stools, we don’t isolate. We will take all of them together.
“We are hoping that in no distant time, we would be working on the reclassification of the traditional stools, and at that time, we will give you the right treatment.
“We don’t believe it will be good for us to isolate any case and handle because it is a thing that will require a gazette and it will be not be right for us to send only one stool to the House of Assembly. So we need your patience.
On the issue of the East-West to Elemebiri Road, it is an NDDC project, and we don’t think the NDDC is well positioned now to fund that road immediately. However, in the next few days, we will get a grader to grade the road to make it drivable for now.
“You also raised the issue of translation of the news in the Isoko language. The Commissioner for Information will work with you on that, to see how the translation is scheduled in the radio house programmes. We believe it is something worth doing.”
In his presentation, the Odio-Logbo of Okugbe Isoko Kingdom, King Dr Frank Okurakpo, said the Odio’Logbo stool had been classified as first class since May 1996 by the then Government of Rivers State, but the gazetting and formal presentation of staff of office had not been done before Bayelsa was created in the same year.
King Okurakpo further explained that the issue was transferred to Bayelsa, but nothing was done by the government in that respect, hence the stool had remained in the second class category ever since.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to look into the matter, as well as intervene in the abandoned 27 kilometres road project awarded by the NDDC to OKRAS Construction Company to link nine communities from the East-West Road to Elemebiri.
The royal father also made a case for human capacity development, economic empowerment of youths from the kingdom, as well as renovation and staffing of primary healthcare centres in Osifo-Osekwenike communities.
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