Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri has expressed appreciation to the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, over the creation of the State 25 years ago on October 1, 1996.
Diri said the people of his homogeneous Ijaw State remain grateful to the late leader for that singular decision regardless of factors that could have hindered the state’s creation.
He stated this during a thanksgiving service on Nigeria’s 61st independence and Bayelsa 25th anniversary at the King of Glory Chapel in Government House, Yenagoa, according to a statement by his media aide, Daniel Alabrah, on Monday.
In eulogising Abacha, the Governor noted the late Head of State remained a hero to people of the state and indeed the Ijaw nation.
He said: “Let me use this medium to thank one man. He may not be popular in Nigeria but to me and all of us Bayelsans, we see him as a great man, a hero. The man who by the stroke of the pen signed the creation of Bayelsa State. I am talking about the late General Sani Abacha.
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“We acknowledge him as a state and people. By his singular assent, he created this state with just eight local government areas, which was less than the constitutional requirements.”
Speaking on Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary, he called on the Federal Government to ensure justice and equity in the distribution of resources in the country.
Diri expressed dissatisfaction with the present lopsided federal structure where the Federal Government takes resources from States and decides what is given to each State at the end of every month