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By Henry Akubuiro
The people of Epie-Atissa in the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa, has frowned on the exclusion of the area from the proposal for creation of new local government areas presented recently to the Bayelsa State House of Representatives’ committee in Yenagoa by the Bayelsa State government.
A statement signed by Chief Roosevelt Abasi, Secretary of Atissa Council of Chiefs, and Dr. Albert Wisdom, President of Epie Kingdom Development Organisation (EKDO), said the position paper of the government, presented by the Attorney General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Biriyai Dambo (SAN), to the House of Representatives Committee on the Constitution Review, South-South public hearing, aimed to create additional local government areas in the state but wrongly excluded Epie-Atissa.
“In the said proposal, all other ethnic groups are favourably included. But surprisingly, Epie-Atissa, the largest area, with population surge and physical expansion is conspicuously sidelined, perhaps for reasons best known to the government proponents. Out of the 25 local government areas proposed by the state government, there is none for Epie-Atissa, which bears the brunt of sacrificing its lands for hosting the state capital, and yet, suffers marginalization,” said the statement.
The group, which saw the exclusion as a deliberate plot to perpetuate the political albatross of the Epie-Atissa, said it was improper for the state government to include all of its Rural Development Authorities (RDAs) in the proposal to be considered for upgrading to statutory council areas but left out Epie-Atissa Rural Development Authority (RDA).
It argued that the government’s white paper stating the indices for its demands qualified Epie-Atissa to have its local government area or areas. It detested being sandwished in a City Council like Yenagoa till infinity.
“If the proposal goes through as envisaged,” the group said, “it may lead to the erosion of our identity and we may further suffer marginalisation. We are already suffocating with the present huge size of Epie and Atissa in the present Yenagoa Local Government Area and council administration.”
Contrary to the assurance by the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, that Yenagoa Local Government be split into five LGAs during his thank-you visit to the area, which would have seen Epie and Atissa as separate LGAs , the statement said the government chose to neglect them completely.
Eppie-Atissa aborigines, therefore, urged the Government of Bayelsa State to revisit the proposal and include Epie-Atissa in the proposition “to correct the glaring abnormality” and “doing so would show us that the exclusion was perhaps not a premeditated political plot to further emasculate Epie-Atissa politically and developmentally.”
The group said “these demands reflect the aspirations of our people, who are poised to avert the negative consequences of the past, such as the earlier creation of local government areas by Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha in which Epie-Atissa was sidelined. That exclusion resulted to protest by our youths, following which, his successor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan created the Epie-Atissa Rural Development Authority.
