NEMBE 2 PARLIAMENTARIAN PUTS SMILE ON CONSTITUENTS FACES By Our Correspondent

Hon. Mrs Princess Ingo Iwowari Gold

The Hon. Member Representing the people of Nembe Constituency 2 in the Bayelsa State Assembly, Hon. Mrs. Princess Ingo Iwowari Gold had put smiles on the faces of the people in her Constituency in the Opu Nembe kingdom in some areas.
According to Golden Pen findings the silent and unassuming Lady Legislator had sprang a surprise by embarking upon people oriented projects, since she came onboard as a lawmaker.
Our Correspondent gathered that despite the visible excruciating financial challenges facing the system, Hon. Mrs Ingo Iwowari Gold had been proactive to finding lasting  solutions to some of the problems that were lurking around the community.
Understanding the importance of water as one of the basic needs of humanity, the first female legislator of that Constituency, Princess Mrs. I. I. Gold was said to have taken a bold initiative to restore water supply through the nooks and crannies of the Opu Nembe Community, which she had achieved, by deploying contractors to change old water pumps on trunk lines and extending more high capacity water pipes to effect the free flow of water in the fledgling Opu Nembe city.
The joy of the people according to Our Correspondent is that, water supply was a major challenge for wish solution was highly needed, when she stepped in,  thus describing the action of the Lady Parliamentarian as proactive to development.
It would be recalled that the lawmaker had donated chairs, food items and other basic needs including cash gifts to the elderly at different occasions. The wishes and prayers of the masses is that God should bless, protect, keep and enable Hon. Mrs Princess Ingo Iwowari Gold to be do more for her people.

DEMOCRACY FESTIVAL MAY 29th

DEMOCRACY FESTIVAL, MAY 29TH

THE LEVITE AND HIS CONCUBINE:A BIBLE STORY, HUSBAND KILLED WIFE AND SHARED HER BODY-BY EVANS TUBONAH

The Holy Bible

A man in Israel, a Levite many years ago took a concubine to himself of Bethlehemjudah, because he was doing business in the territory of Ephraim.
The love was very strong, between them but for an undisclosed reason, the concubine one day left the man to her father's house in Bethlehem in four months, and after waiting for that much, he decided to visit her there.
And the man whom the Bible called her husband accompanied by his servant went there to persuade her to return with him.
On their arrival the woman received them and took her husband to the father who received him with joy, and he stayed with the woman's father, his father-in-law three days: eating, drinking and making merry.When the man wanted to leave early on the fourth day, his father in-law said to him, NO! don't go, rise eat bread and drink some wine, and he spent that day also eating, drinking and making merry, because of the word of his father in-law, that he should stay and enjoy with him and they drank together, and he spent that night also to break the 5th day.
And in the early morning of the 5th day when he wanted to leave, the father in-law said to him again, No!, don't go! stay with me and enjoy yourself, and he obeyed the words of his father in-law and stayed till the afternoon eating and drinking.
And when the man wanted to leave with his wife and his servant, the father-in-law said it was too late to leave,and prayed him to spend the night with him because the night was closeby, the father in-law wanted him  to stay the night and leave in the morning so that they will arrive safely.
But the man said, he could not stay that night, he must leave at once, and he left with his concubine and the servant upon their asses.They passed through a community called Jebus which is Jerusalem and the servant suggested to the master that they enter the "city of the jebusites and lodge in it."
The master declined saying NO! we will not lodge in the cities of strangers, we must go to a community of israel and lodge, and they  moved on, aiming to get at Gibeah or in Ramah so as to lodge in.
But as they arrived at Gibeah the night was far spent and they found no one in the streets, and did not know where to find a lodging place, hence he played himself down in the street, but suddenly an elderly man appeared to him, a man of Ephraim who lived in Gibeah, while the men of the place were Benjamites.
And when the old man saw them he asked the man where do you come from and where are you going? After the man had explained to the old man how they were moving, the old man said to him, come into my home and stay the night with me and i will provide all your needs, including the needs of your concubine, your servant and your asses.
And they went with the old man into his house, and he took care of them his according to his words
But while they were making merry in the house something strange happened, "the men of the city, certain sons of belial....." surrounded the house of the old man and said he should open the house so that they would know the man in his house.
And knowing their evil intent the old man said NO! don't do anything to the man, instead he shouted they should take his daughter and the man's concubine and do with them whatever they pleased, and they took the concubine with them and abused her all the night until the morning and when the day began to spring they let her go."
And the woman so abused by the men managed herself to the door of the house in which her husband was, and fell down till the dawn of day.
When the husband woke up in the morning and opened the door, he saw his concubine on the ground and told her to get up so that they could go, but there was no answer
Then the man took her up and put her body upon an ass, and took her along to his place, and when he had entered his house, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body flesh and bones apart and shared to twelve places and sent to all the coast of Israel.
The remark by the people is that, from the time Israel  left Egypt to Canaan nothing like that had happened .
READ BOOK OF JUDGES, CHAPTER 19:1-30

FORMER PRESIDENT DR. JONATHAN EMPHASIZES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL CONFAB WHITE PAPER-BY EVANS TUBONAH

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

The former president of Nigeria from the South/South geo-political zone, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan has called on the Federal government to implement the consensus of the National Confab of 2014.
He stated this in the Rivers State Capital, Port Harcourt, at the occasion of a Golden Jubilee lectures held at the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the  creation of Rivers State.
The Otueke born global political leader made it clear that the aim of the 2014 National Conference was to address some key issues that bedeviled the smooth running of the ship of state, the reason for which he approved the holding of the Conference, Dr. Jonathan said.
Hear this:-
"One of the reasons, I insisted on the National Conference...was the interest of Nigerians. Yes, in many areas as a nation, we are doing well, but there are still other areas that agitate the minds of our people  and as a government..
"I remember in August 2013, ProfessorBen Nwabueze led the patriots and met me, and one of the issues raised was the National Conference. Others schemed for other conferences, but I insisted on the National Conference that would look at these gray areas that affect our people. Those areas that retarded our development and finetune it for the good of our children..."
Dr. Jonathan who is the icon of Nigerian democracy, being the first African president in power who conceded defeat and voluntarily and selflessly handed over power to his successor, without violence or spill of blood.
He used the medium to inform the people that, while in office he used to believe that both executive powers and the power of law making etc, was temporal.
The soft spoken former president, Dr. Jonathan who said he was happy with the outcome of the celebrated National Conference, called on the Federal Government not to keep the white paper in the files but implement its consensus for the development of the nooks and crannies of the nation in the areas of security and overall prosperity.
The former president expressed the view that implementation of the 2014  Confab's white paper will bring about the practice of fiscal federalism, which will be beneficial to all the states in the nation, he therefore urged the Federal Government to implement the 2014
National Conference White Paper.
He used the medium to appreciate the Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike for fastracking the development of the state.
The former president expressed conference that, the Wike he knew and who served in his cabinet as a Minister has the traits of good governance will lead the people of Rivers State to the next level.

In his remark, the Chairman f the Caretaker Committee of tell PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi stated that only the PDP will provide credible leadership to bring Nigeria out from her present economic challenges.

"In PDP we believe that our federation Ned to be fixed.We will ensure reforms in a manner that every Federline unit will know that they will not be abandoned."
In his remarks the governor of RiversState, Nyesome Wike, spoke well of the leadership of Senator Makarfi led PDP with hopes of a better future.

ZIDAFAMOR EXTOLS GOV. DICKSON ON VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

Pastor Thomas Zidafamor

The Head of Service of Bayelsa State, Rev. Thomas Zidafamor has given kudos to the Governor of the State, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson on what he calls visionary leadership.
The Head of Service was taken unaware in his office by Golden Pen Newspaper to explain to the public some of the issues in the civil service that will interest the people to know, which had generated tensions in the state at the peak of expectations by the civil servants on salaries payments and pensions, and continued verification exercises etc.
To all these, the  H.O.S came out with a clear view on the issue of salaries payment, on which he remarked that the challenges that faced the state civil service on salaries were not peculiar to Bayelsa State, but national.
Rev. Zidafamor graphically posited that the Hon. Dickson led Restoration Government started with a prompt, before the end of the month salaries payment system in 2012, which continued to 2016 when the economy forced the administration to make necessary adjustments. Hear him:
"The salaries matter is not peculiar to Bayelsa but national. The enlightened ones know what led to that predicament, but several others are accusing someone somewhere, saying, someone is doing this, someone is doing that, when we know that it is the economy that led to it.
"When the present government came to power on 2012, there was no delay in salaries payment. Before even the end of the month salaries were paid...until 2016, when the fund that was coming from the federation account to the state was no longer sufficient."
He further explained that the allocated funds were not meant only for the payment of civil servants salaries or pensions, but for every other need cutting across the state.
"The allocation from the federation accounts to the state was not meant to pay salaries of civil servants and political appointees alone of their stipends and or allowances, but to meet the needs of the entire people of the state who are all entitled to benefit one way or the other; in terms of good roads, water supply, electricity etc...."
The Head of Service said it was unfair on the part of propagandists to say that the governor, Hon. Dickson  or his government had done nothing, when indeed a lot has been done, he tenderly submitted .
Rev. Zidafamor used the medium to state why the civil servants verification exercise had been ongoing for long.
According to him, the state government had taken the bold initiative to know the actual figure of genuine civil servants in the state and their actualb monthly salaries, because some of the employees came through the back doors and have appointment letters, while some who claim to have aquired the necessary qualifications had their certificates printed at business centres.
" The verification has to continue because government wants to do a thorough exercise to ensure that at the end of it all, government will release a white paper. There are so many workers living outside the state, in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and so on, they don't go to work neither do they have offices, yet they receive salary alerts from banks every month...."
On infrastructural development, the Head of Service said, the governor is working tremendously, and that those criticizing him or his administration may be doing so out of ignorance. Hear this:
"Some of the people that criticize  government has not  visited  some of the project sites, so they carry the wrong propaganda that government is not doing anything," he reiterated.
Reacting to alleged maltreatment of pensioners at verification centres in the state, Rev.Zidafamor said it was never the intention of government to make things difficult for the pensioners, during the exercise, considering their elderly status; went further to say that just as parents don't use to know what the children they sent  to school did on their way or at school, so did the governor not know how  those at the fields handled matters at the verification centres.
He commended the Golden Pen Newspaper for being proactive to clarification of information before going to press and urged the medium to maintain the tempo.

GOV.DICKSON'S SIX YEARS WASTE COMMENTS AGAINST JONATHAN CONTINUES TO GENERATION CONTROVERSIES

Dr, Goodluck Jonathan

 From Tuesday 16th of May 2017, there has been a strong controversy arising from a statement made by the governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, who at the occasion of honoring one of the Heroes of the Ijaw nation, Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro of blessed memory stated that, six years of Dr. Jonathan's presidency was a waste to the Ijaw people. Dickson said: "the six years spent by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president was a wasted opportunity for Ijaw people."
But as soon as the comments were made by the governor, the news went virile as people from all works of life began to comment on the strange outing of the man who the whole nation and the world knew and trusted as Dr. Jonathan's number one supporter, being the governor of his home state, Bayelsa. The worry over it is that the comment had caused the political class in Bayelsa and beyond a big surprise  in view of the fact that Dickson was a political son to Jonathan until this controversial statement was made,
The governor of Rivers State Nyesome Wike, who regard Dr. Jonathan as a father to the people of the Niger Delta and the South/ South in particular and one of the fathers of the Nigerian nation, being a former president and leader of the largest party in Africa, the PDP for six years, and still the father figure of that party as taken by surprise.
In his reaction, Barrister Wike who had the former president, Dr. Jonathan in his State, Rivers,  for commissioning of projects remarked that whoever made such a statement that the former president's six years in office at the presidency was a waste, needed urgent medical attention.
In a related development, a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani Kayode also spoke in the same vein, describing the statement as untrue.
But while the thunders and brimstones were raining upon the governor from various quarters, as reactions to the costly statement, the governor's camp came out with double positions:-
1. With a denial that the governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Henry Dickson did not make such a statement at all, a statement that berated the former president. Infact, in that statement, the Dickson camp spoke about an inseparable relationship between "the two leaders", which means himself (Dickson) and the former president, (Dr. Jonathan) had no issue separating them.
2. After that, Dickson came up with yet another statement, asserting  that he had no regrets whatsoever saying that the "six years of Dr. Jonathan at the presidency was a waste..." The governor who displayed an usual courage clearly said that he stands by his statement.
These two positions by Mr. Dickson had created a deeper controversy, too deep for the masses to read the hand writing on the wall, as to who blinks first between the camps of Dickson and Jonathan; especially various Ijaw groups have their slots lashing at the governor, while calling on him to give account of the stewardship of  his administration.
Ebi Dressman on his facebook account calls, "Gov. Dickson a monumental disgrace to modern leadership. Record fro FAAC has shown that during Goodluck Jonathan presidency the state state share of statutory allocation, excess crude account, and the 13% derivation was one of the highest in the whole of the federation. If Bayelsa can receive #25billion as allocation for just one month and the state wage bill for one month stood at #6billion, if you minus #6bilion from #25billion, you will be left with #19billion. The question now is, where is the remaining #19billion..."he queried!
A pan Ijaw group "THE MOVEMENT FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF IJAW PEOPLE" in their reaction stated in a press statement issued and signed by Mr. Tonbra Ebitimi as National leader  for the sustainability of Ijaw people 'described Dickson as overtly too ambitious, "a lesser star" who disparages the former president while pretending to love..."
"The statement said: "we believe that only a stone hearted traitor will move against a man who regularly comes to his rescue in times of danger."
There are strong indications that the development had created an atmosphere for contention between political and other divides, which may translate to circumstances of unimaginable consequences if not nipped in the bud.

DR. SAGBE CALLS FOR UNITY IN NEMBE NATIONALITY

Worried by the disintegration of the Nembe  ethnic nationality, caused by disunity, a concerned citizen, Dr. Solomon Sagbe has called on the people to sink their differences and come together for peace and developent. "Nembe people are not faring well because of disunity. Our disunity is Ogbolomabiri and Bassambiri, Twon and Okpoama..."
 He reasoned that the Nembe nation will fare better if such divisions were nipped in the bud.
 He stated this in the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa, while exchanging views with Golden Pen Newspaper Dr. Sagbe critically observed and noted that the people of Nembe lost everything to internal squabbles the moment they came over with their Ijaw brothers to Bayelsa, and had disintegrated in the past 21 years, he painfuly explained .
Going through memory lane, he said, while Nembe was in Rivers State, the people were more united than after the creation of Bayelsa, and subsequent bifurcation to date. Hear him:-
 "When we were in Rivers State, we were united, and Nembe was  one of the highly respected entities; like the people of Kalabari, Okrika, Bonny in that state, but when we came over here with our fellow Ijaws we became so divided that we now fall victim to  internal dichotomy of core Ijaw and non core Ijaw in our state.
Dr. Sagbe described the backwardness of Nembe as alarming especially now that the youth are no longer interested in education, which means that the future is seriously challenged, because those who will succeed the present generation needed to be sufficiently educated so as to be worthy ambassadors of the Nembe nation.
He called on the Youth not to shy away from education because of fears of joblessness or non availability of employment opportunities, which misleads many to militancy, political thuggery and other anti-social activities for money, instead of pursing their education.
He used the medium to call on the elites of Nembe to partner the traditional institutions, and all sons and daughters across the Nembe ethnic nationality to build a new united and prosperous Nembe societies.

BAYELSA: BUSINESS EXECUTIVE CALLS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF YENAGOA CITY MASTER PLAN

Chief Chris Adokeme

The Chief Executive Officer of Chris Del Group of companies based in Bayelsa State has identified failure to implementing the Yenagoa Capital City Master Plan as a cog in development of the fledgling state.
He stated this while interfacing with golden pen on line in his office in Yenagoa.
Chief Adokeme who served two Military Administrators as a Speechwriter stated that the Bayelsa State government engaged the services of a renowned Architectural firm of  Chief Harcourt Aduke to draw a master plan and wondered why the plan had been ignored in the development process.
Chief Adokeme attributes the ghetto like outlook of the Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa as the failure by succesive governments to implementing that master plan aimed at transforming the state capital to a modern city.
Fielding questions, the business guru said the Ijaw man could be a successful business man if only he would stop the mentality of depending on government for contracts. Here him:
"We must purge ourselves on this reliance on governments, how much contract will the government be able to give, how soon will the government be able to pay it's contractors? Once you get tied to the apron strings of the government;...how many people will the government be able to assist? he posited.
Chief Adokeme who is also the National President of ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS IN NIGERIA also identified petition writing in Bayelsa State  as a cankerworm that had eaten deep into the society which had frightened the successful indigenous investors from plowing  back their resources within the state to enhance the desired development. He explained as follows:-
"Some Bayelsans who became rich through politics and who would have built  great infrastructures  would not plow back their resources  in the state, they preferred investing outside for fear of petitions, and the consequences thereof, and that also had adversely affected the speed of development in the state"
Chief Chris Adokeme used the medium to announce that, the National Association of ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS under his able leadership had a lot of projects to be executed this year and called on members to continue to pay their dues so as to achieve desired goals.

NIGERIANS BEG T.B JOSHUA NOTTO RELOCATE SCOAN

Prophet T.B.Joshua

• The world renowned televangelist of Nigeria, Prophet Timitope Balogun Joshua, popularly called T.B.Joshua for short is under pressure to rescind his plan to relocate his Church to Israel. Many Nigerians have bared their minds, calling on the Prophet not to pull out of Nigeria, where the Lord God had placed him. Speaking on the issue at Opu Nembe, in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, in the Niger Delta Region, South/South Nigeria, Chief O.G.Evans Tubonah had joined many Nigerians to beg the Prophet not to relocate to anywhere leaving Nigeria behind.
• The Prophet was quoted to have announced to his global audience in his Church of plans to leave Nigeria for Israel to the Galilee area of the Holy Land, where he had concluded talks with three Mayors.
• Nigerians have since lost sleep following the unwelcome news, that the Prophet may leave and keep Nigeria fallow, which is posing right now, a serious concern to many in the African largest nation.
• Chief Evans Tubonah who is the publisher of Golden Pen Newspaper spoke on behalf of the millions of Nigerians, especially those who are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters mothers and fathers to the prophet, remarked that relocation of the Synagogue Church of All Nations to anywhere in the world, out of Nigeria may lead to heart breaks of many in the country, which may lead to circumstances of dangerous and unfathomable consequences.
• The Chief noted that the calls or appeals by countless Nigerians on the Prophet not to leave the Nigerian nation was timely at the time they needed him and his Church most, and cried out to him not to ignore these voices of reason, because, "the voice of the people is the voice of God" he reminded. Speaking on the wrongs against the Prophet, Chief Evans Tubonah has this to say:-
• "The Prophet knows more than the rest of us, the opinion of God on this matter, that not minding the persecutions he had suffered from the Nigerian government and her people for many years, he should not discountenance the tears in the eyes of the masses and not leave us behind by relocation. May the Lord in the heart of the Prophet  have mercy on us.

• 

  Chief O.G.Evans Tubonah