Headline

Group Tackles Diri Over Project Commissioning In Bayelsa

Published

4 years ago

November 9, 2021

Bayelsa Young Progressives Forum has berated the Bayelsa governor, Douye Diri for allegedly claiming projects initiated, executed and completed by his predecessors.

The group in a statement made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, the state capital by its spokesman, Comrade Jasper Dakore said; since assuming power, all Diri has done was to lay claims to project executed by his predecessors.

“Your government is failing our people. Governance entails delivering dividends of democracy to the people. What we have witnessed under Diri’s government is propaganda”.

“In the course of transition, our great party, the All Progressives Congress had the opportunity of documenting some of the projects done by Diri’s predecessors who he now claims to be done by him”.

“For instance, the Nembe Unity Bridge was done by our leader, His Excellency, Timipre Sylva. Diri can not take credit for a project that has been 60% done because the conceptualization, planning, the awarding and execution of projects are tasking . The Nembe bridge is our leader’s idea and project.

“The Kaiama General Hospital which Diri’s government is laying claims to was built and finished by former governor Seriake Dickson’s government. The only thing done by Diri’s government was mere interlocking. Every other important thing like equipment and staffing was done by Senator Dickson.

“Suffice also to note that the Imiringi bridge in Ogbia Local government was 100% done and would have been commissioned if the former governor wanted it.

The group also stated that the Yenagoa bypass was started by His Excellency, Timipre Sylva who had sand filled over 70% of the road.

“Everyone knows that in our terrain, when you sand fill, you have almost done 70% of the work.

“It is also very important to let the people of Bayelsa note that the 60-metric tonnes Multi-Billion Cassava and Starch Factory which sits on a 40 hectares of land at Ebedebiri in the Sagbama Local Government Area of the state, was established and completed by the administration of former Governor Seriake Dickson which ordinarily would have created jobs for our teeming youths in Bayelsa.”

(DAILY POST)

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

23 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

1 day ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

1 day ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP