Nigeria Content Online

Nigerians should
support the Niger Delta region of the country to retain the presidency
in 2011, Bayelsa State governor, Timpreye Sylva said yesterday in
Lagos. President Goodluck Jonathan is from Bayelsa State, in the Niger
Delta.

Mr Sylva, who spoke
at the presentation of two poetry anthologies authored by Sam Omatseye,
chairman of The Nation editorial board at the Nigerian Institute of
International Affairs (NIIA), noted that the region has played
prominent role in the nation’s history, dating back to the
pre-amalgamation era when the region was a major producer of oil-palm.

The Bayelsa
governor also expressed displeasure with his party’s (the People’s
Democratic Party) zoning arrangement, saying “the Niger Delta should be
considered for the presidency of the nation. Whatever zoning
arrangement that is on ground, we (Nigerians) should realise that the
Niger Delta is ripe for the leadership of the nation.” Mr Sylva said he
was happy at the emergence of Mr Jonathan as the nation’s leader
following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua.

“I am proud at last
that the Niger Delta has produced the president, as the region is a
very important component of the nation. We fought a war and after
consultations we have willingly disarmed and surrendered our weapons.
The Niger Delta deserves this opportunity to continue in the office.”

However, in his
reaction to the governor’s call, the representative of the Sultan of
Sokoto, Danladi Bako said the quality leadership should be the major
requirement for the nation’s leader and the region where he/she comes
from should not be an issue.

Intellectuals needed

Commenting on the
book launch, a former commissioner of Lagos State, Dele Alake decried
the low-turnout at the book presentation.

“Events like this
gives us hope in the ray of darkness that elopes Nigeria, which all
good men and women must embrace to move us to the light,” he said.

“Without a sound
intellectual base, a society/people is lost.” Mr Alake said one of the
major problems of Nigeria is the lack of visionary leaders.

“When we destroy the intellectual base of a country, the soul of the
nation is lost,” he said, adding that “intellectual works are very
important in our national development for the elevation of governance
from a mundane to something substantial and concrete.”