My Midnight Visit To Den Of Cultists To Broker Peace, By Bayelsa Youth President
5 min read
Samuel Gentle is the youth president of Azikoro community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa state. In this interview with JOHN ODHE in the state capital, he spoke on his risky mission to the den of cultists at midnight, his excellence leadership award, youth leadership tussle in Azikoro community and other issues.
Excerpts:
You received an award recently, what is it all about?
I received an award of the Best Youth President on Development, Epie-Atissa Kingdom in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The award was given to me by a non-governmental organization know as Builders Youth Affairs.
Why do you think you deserved the award?
In the first place, l want to thank the Almighty God because every good gift comes from Him. When we render service to our people, we don’t expect anything in return. But you may not know that somebody somewhere is watching you from afar. That is what has happened.
What does the award mean to you?
It means a lot to me. In my life time, as a young man, l think this is the first major award I have received. That’s why I am very happy and excited and I hold the award in high esteem. It will give me more encouragement to do what l am doing. It
really shows that I am touching the lives of the people, especially the youths of Azikoro community.
Udom Looks Away As A’Ibom Schools Decay * No, We Are Committed To Giving Them Face-Lift-Commissioner
Of recent, we found out that a certain Success is also parading as the youth president of Azikoro community. What is going on?
Everybody, including the Success you just mentioned, knows that I am the youth president of Azikoro community. I was elected in 2018. I have served for two and a half years. An election was to be conducted after the expiration of my first tenure of two years. But while the process was on-going, the paramount ruler of the community meddled in and scuttled the process and the election didn’t hold. So, the state government through the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Hon. Baraladei lgali, ordered that the status quo should remain until government would supervise the conduct of Azikoro youth election to usher in a new leadership. So, l don’t know any other youth president in Azikoro community than myself.
Are you not aware that Success Douglas is also claiming to be Azikoro youth president?
Yes. But funny enough, I don’t know where he got his powers. I don’t know if he has become more powerful than the state government. The state government has given an order and they are flouting the order, claiming to have got their authority from the paramount ruler. This is becoming a serious problem because my leadership and the acclaimed faction led by one
Success Douglas have clashed several times. I have been using wisdom as a peace builder to prevail on my boys to always maintain the peace. That’s how I have been able to control and manage the situation anytime it occurs. If not, it would have resulted in bloodshed and l wouldn’t want a thing like that to happen. We are all from Azikoro community. If there is any issue bothering them, they should bring it to the table and let’s iron it out. For now, I am the youth president of Azikoro community. Any other person parading himself is only pretending to be so. They have been pushing us to the wall, claiming to be having the backing of the paramount ruler. I am using this opportunity to call on law enforcement agencies, the state government and the commissioner for youth and sports to come and call them to order. If they don’t call them to order, one day something unexpected may happen. Let the government come and conduct election for us. Whosoever that wins, l am ready to handover the documents to him. If l win, we will give the glory to God and carry on with what we have put on ground. But for me, l will not take the law into my hands. I am ready to follow up with the matter to its logical conclusion.
Do you have any problem with your paramount ruler?
I don’t have any problem with him. He too cannot tell you the exact problem. But l think it’s all about likes and dislikes. There are times they may not like the way and manner l operate in the community. It is all about likeness. I am sure the man doesn’t like me naturally because I can’t really figure out what I have done wrong against him.
What are your greatest achievements as Azikoro youth leader?
Apart from the physical projects that we have put in place for the past two years or so, my greatest achievement is the peace that has returned to Azikoro community. You can recall that Azikoro used to be hot bed for criminal activities especially cult related killings and destruction of properties. But when I came in, I decided to engage the boys to know what were their problems. The most memorable day of my peace mission in Azikoro community was the day I took the risk to go to the cultists’ den in the bush at midnight to have discussions with their ring leaders. It was a tough decision but I had to take the risk for the sake of peace. I knew I had no other community than Azikoro. I felt that it is even needless to live when your own community youths are killing themselves and others, destroying hard earned properties. Those were the feelings that gave me the impetus to embark on that deadly mission. In the course of our discussions, we discovered that joblessness was one of the major problems. Some of these boys really want to do something but they don’t have the opportunity. So, we went to the NCDC and other parastratals to bring in small, small developmental projects so as to engage the boys and disabuse their minds from antisocial vices. In collaboration with vigilante groups and security agencies, we were able to restore peace to Azikoro community. We also formed a task force where we collect little revenue in the community. From the little collections, we were able to build two self-contained apartments and three public toilet rooms for the community youths. We attracted seven road network to the community through NDDC. We built a receptacle for waste dump. We also sponsored some of our youths through payment of JAMB and WAEC fees. These are the things the boys saw in us that we were doing and felt that they should rather join us than to continue to perpetrate crime. I advise the youths of Azikoro to be focused, law abiding and not take laws into their hands.
