A former Security Adviser to Bayelsa Government, Chief Perekeme Kpodoh, has called on Gov. Douye Diri to deploy ecological funds that accrued to the state to help flood victims.
Kpodoh, in a statement in Yenagoa on Thursday, said it was time for Diri to use the billions of naira he had so far collected as ecological funds to mitigate the damage done by the floods, to sufficiently ameliorate the sufferings of the people.
He described as unacceptable the repeated calls by Diri for Federal Government’s help, saying the governor should first show capacity with the resources inn his disposal.
“People should hold Gov. Douye Diri responsible and compel him to account for all the money he had received so far as ecological funds. Such money is meant for a time like this. It is not sufficient to be crying wolf and seeking external assistance. What have you done with the resources available to you?
“Diri’s intervention was belated and insufficient. There were warnings that Bayelsa and some other states would be flooded. However, the governor went about his business without making provisions to mitigate the floods.
“Nothing was done. All the drains were not cleared. People were not sensitised and prepared to face the disaster. No higher grounds were built. We saw how the Kaduna State Government prepared its citizens before the floods.
“We also saw how the Rivers State Gov. Nyesom Wike immediately set up a taskforce and released N1bn for only four local government areas affected by the floods.
“The Bayelsa State Governor waited until the floods overtook the entire state and killed helpless people before he released paltry N450m for relief materials” , Kpodoh alleged.
Kpodoh said that the governor embarrassed Bayelsa following a viral video of people he sent to distribute relief materials and who dished one cup each of rice, beans and garri to the suffering and traumatised flood victims.
“We saw that video and we were embarrassed. It was unimaginable that an oil-rich state such as Bayelsa would deepen the pains of its traumatised citizens in the time of disaster”, he said.
Kpodoh said Diri’s capacity in governance had been tested by the flood disaster but expressed regrets that the governor had “failed woefully by playing to the gallery and presenting himself to the world as a helpless weeping child“.
He said the governor, through his poor leadership style bungled a great opportunity presented by the floods to redeem his image.
He advised the governor to bury any thought of seeking re-election.
President Muhammadu Buhari had directed relevant agencies of the Federal Government to respond to the flood incidents which, according to Diri, had displaced about one million residents.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme and the National Emergency Response Agency have donated relief materials to victims of the flood disaster in Bayelsa.
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