Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has accused the 9th National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, of not being vibrant as the previous assemblies, urging members to revive the vibrancy the chambers were known for.
Diri, a member of the 8th House of Representatives and 9th Senate before his election as the governor of Bayelsa State in late 2019, said he was surprised over the silence of the House of Representatives on the recent oil spill in Nembe Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking while receiving the House Committee On Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring during a courtesy visit to the Government House, Yenagoa, Diri said that the massive spillage, which occurred on November 5 at the OML 26 Wellhead 1 facility operated by Aiteo Exploration and Production Company Limited on the Santa Barbara River, lasted more than a month before it was stopped.
He accused the House of Representatives of remaining silent on the incident that impacted on the health of the people.
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, in a statement on Monday, also quoted him as saying that there was nowhere in the world an oil spill would last for over a month and the people’s representatives would be silent.
He said: “I like to observe that as a part of you, the vibrancy I used to see in the House of Representatives appears to be extinguishing. Please, let that spirit be revived.
“I stand by what I said during the period of the oil spill. There is nowhere in the world an oil spill of such magnitude will occur and the legislators would be silent. I drew a parallel with the oil spill ten years ago in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Here in the creeks of Bayelsa, we had a gushing oil spill for more than one full month and there was a loud silence from my own constituency, the Green Chamber. So, let us revive that vibrancy again.
“One does not have to be a Bayelsan to raise a motion on the spill, just like the issue of Boko Haram insurgency and banditry ravaging the North that every member had raised motions to see to its end during my days,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the House Committee on Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring, Hon. Legor Idagbo, said the legislators were in the state on oversight duties on the NCDMB.
