BY BRIGHT JACOB
Large crowd of cheering supporters welcomed the Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, as he rounded off his campaigns in the three Yenagoa constituencies at the weekend.
Governor Diri, whose campaign trail visited no fewer than 16 communities in two days, assured the people that his administration will continue to prioritise development of the state capital, Yenagoa, in order to transform it into a modern city.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor and member, Bayelsa PDP Governorship Campaign Council, Daniel Alabrah, at Igbogene community on Saturday, a joint council of traditional rulers of the Epie and Atissa kingdoms conferred on Diri the chieftaincy title of “Otoroto Ibe 1 of Oguan,”meaning the “moonlight of Epie and Atissa kingdoms.”
Describing Yenagoa as the gateway to the state, he said more roads have been constructed and others at advanced stages of completion linking the capital to other communities in the state.
He said, “Your support to the Prosperity Administration is a call to more duty. When you give me your mandate for a second term, l will do more for the Epie and Atissa kingdoms. This is because the gateway to Bayelsa State is Yenagoa, the capital city, which needs development. Therefore, our goal is to continue to develop our capital city just as we are taking development closer to the rural areas for our development to be holistic.
“We have almost completed the Elebele-Igbogene ring road. We have inaugurated different sections and just one section is left, which will equally be inaugurated so that the one-road city status narrative about Yenagoa will change.
“Now, we have multiple roads in Yenagoa. We have many concrete and street roads that were earth roads. Today, people can drive to their houses without parking vehicles on the roadside as we used to do when we had only the Mbiama-Yenagoa road.”
The governor commended King Malla Sasime, the Obenibe X1 of Epie Kingdom and King Godwin Igodo, Ebenibe Vll of Atissa kingdom, represented by Chief G. Simeon, for providing the enabling environment for the development of Yenagoa.
He urged the people to turn out en masse to vote for the People’s Democratic Party in this Saturday’s governorship election to enable his administration to bring more development to the area.
In an address presented by Chief Natus Zebakeme on behalf of the Epie and Atissa council of chiefs, both kingdoms commended the Diri administration for putting in place people-oriented projects.
They listed some of the projects to include the dual carriage Glory Drive, the ring road, the three senatorial roads, completion of an ultra-modern transport terminal among many other projects.
The people however requested for the dredging and construction of bridges across the Epie creek among others.
Similarly, member representing Yenagoa/ Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Oforji Oboku, member, representing Yenagoa Constituency 1 in the House of Assembly, Ayibanegiyefa Egba, Commissioner for Health, Pabara Igwele as well as caretaker committee chairman of the Yenagoa local government council, Andy Tobi, urged the Epie and Atissa people to vote PDP in the election.
At Swali, a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, inaugurated another of the new technical colleges built by the Diri administration, bringing to four similar institutions constructed and inaugurated during the campaigns.
Senator Saraki commended the governor’s exemplary leadership in establishing technical colleges, noting that he was investing in future generations.
“You cannot hide performance. What we have here is a technical college and this is what I call visionary leadership. He is investing in future generations and the impact on the people of Bayelsa is going to be tremendous.
“I commend you for this project. The focus of the world today is vocational and technical skills. So l am very confident and hopeful that on the 11th of this month, PDP will win in Bayelsa State.”
The campaign trail also visited other Constituency 1 communities of Opolo, Kpansia, Agbura, Famgbe, Obogoro, Amarata and Yenagoa.
On Friday, the governor inaugurated projects in Yenagoa Constituency 2 and 3 and assured the people of more when re-elected.
They included a new complex of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in Okolobiri, health centre and town hall in Akaibiri, another town hall in Okordia and an internal road in Biseni.
