President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday in Yenagoa that the administration of former Governor Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, was sacked because it represented a sad phase in the history of the state.
�What is bad is bad. Bad thing is bad thing and bad thing is not good,� Obasanjo said at a civic reception organised in his honour at the start of his three-day visit to the state.
�If this country is to move forward, we must identify bad things and be able to call a spade a spade,� he said.
Obasanjo noted that the only magic in development was to identify the right things and doing them continuously.
He condemned the spate of vandalism, militancy and hostage-taking in the Niger Delta, stressing that it was cowardly to attack defenceless people or take unarmed persons hostage.
The president said, however, that he was aware that the actions were caused by the frustrations that trailed the neglect suffered by the region in the past.
He said militancy and hostage-taking was giving Bayelsa, the Ijaw community and the country a bad name.
He charged the youth to embrace dialogue with both the state and federal authorities, pointing out that a lot could be achieved through dialogue and negotiations.
Oct222006