OPEN LETTER TO GOV. DICKSON OF BAYELSA STATE.

His Excellency,
The Executive Governor of Bayelsa State
Creek Haven Government House
Yenagoa.

Your Excellency Sir,

AN S.O.S MESSAGE/PASSIONATE APPEAL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE OTUEGILA – AMOREKENI ROAD IN OGBIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BAYELSA STATE.

I humbly write to your most revered office as the Executive Governor of our great state, and the Chief Security Officer (CSO), for your immediate intervention to save the Souls of our great people in Amorekeni Community in Ogbia Constituency 3, Ogbia Local Government Area who have become victims of daily armed robbery attacks.

Amorekeni Community is one of the most blessed communities in the Niger Delta. It is a very peaceful community where villagers still live communal lifestyle. They celebrate together whenever the need arises, same way they also mourn together during sorrowful moments. A trip to Amorekeni Community will reveal to Your Excellency a true serene African society and environment. But beside the peaceful disposition of the people and their hospitality that will attract travellers, business men and tourists to the area, the community is endowed with enormous natural resources. For example, most of the Timbers that meet the high demands of Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and other neighbouring states are gotten from Amorekeni and other neighbouring communities.

Amorekeni Community has a very fertile land for Agriculture and I can also tell Your Excellency that large quantity of plantain, banana, palm oil, cassava even snails that are sold in Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Ahoada, Abua, etc are gotten from Amorekeni.

But as I write this passionate Save Our Soul Message, the peace loving Amorekeni people are now endangered species. They are now endangered people due to the daily activities of Armed robbers, sea pirates and bandits who always have field days robbing, maiming and raping innocent teenage girls including married women sometimes even in front of the entire family. The worst aspect of this sad story is that these criminals spend minimum of 6hours during such attacks unchallenged.

It is so because of the absence of road as the road connecting Amorekeni through Otuegila is impassable as Your Excellency can see from the displayed pictures. That road is less than four (4) kilometres with a short bridge across the Kolo Creek.

Your Excellency Sir, the worthy Ambassador of the Ijaw Nation, the people of Amorekeni Community are some of your core and diehard supporters. They have been strong supporters and believers of the Restoration Government and to prove their loyalty, fidelity and commitment, these people have never protested against your government or done anything whatsoever to dent your administration to express their displeasure over their ill-treatment, neglect and total abandonment by successive administrations. They believe that government will surely remember them someday. It is this same positive belief that has made them to remain faithful to the Restoration Government under your stewardship and leadership.

The Bible says that the labourer is entitled to his wage and I am very optimistic that Your Excellency who has remained very faithful as the Chief Missionary and Evangelist in the state when it comes to the propagation of the Gospel will not abandon or leave your great people of Amorekeni unrewarded as your government gradually winds down.

In concluding this Save Our Soul Message, I wish to join the good and very peaceful people of Amorekeni community and other men and women of goodwill to appeal to Your Excellency for the Construction of that very strategic road. Even as one of your most outstanding positive Critic, I believe so much in you. Your Excellency is a man of action anchored and driven by conviction. We know the passion you dissipate in whatever you set out to accomplish. May the good people of Amorekeni Community be beneficiaries of your benevolence and goodwill.

Finally, as a temporary security measure, I wish to suggest that Your Excellency should instruct the Commissioner of Police to establish a Police Post and also deploy sufficient men to police and also secure that great community to save them from prevalent pains and dangers. Operationally, Amorekeni is under Kolo Police Station but policemen cannot go there because of the very bad road.

Your Excellency Sir, I cannot conclude this letter without thanking you once again for the Imiringi and Opume Bridges. That of Imiringi community is nearing completion and I can assure Your Excellency that you have written your name with gold in our hearts and in the history of these two great communities. But like Oliver Twist, I will still remind Your Excellency about the electricity situation in Ogbia Local Government Area that has remained in darkness for over 5years. The bad portion of the Ogbia Road after Kolo Town also need your fatherly attention, please.

I thank Your Excellency for your good work in the midst of daunting challenges and ever increasing demands. Pessimists and Critics may not appreciate your good works today, but will do so in the near future. I may fall into this very category, but I see you formally occupying a special place in our history like Lee Kuen Yew of Singapore and King Solomon in the Bible who built a temple for God. While others criticize the rational behind the building of the beautiful Ecumenical Centre, I see it with my Spiritual binocular lense and appreciate the gesture that has reaffirmed your position as the Chief Missionary and Evangelist in our great and most blessed state.

Thank you once again for your time even as we look forward with so much enthusiasm and optimism for the commencement of this very strategic project.

Yours in the struggle for a better and greater Bayelsa State,

Most Senior Comrade Wisdom Oniekpar Ikuli,
Mirror and Conscience of Society cum House of Assembly Hopeful, Ogbia Constituency 3