The Bayelsa State Government has described as mischievous, a deliberate propagation of falsehood, report carried in a national newspaper on Saturday, with the headline: “Govt Houses costlier than Nigerian universities” with two photographs, captioned “State House, Bayelsa.”
It was also reported in same Newspapers that, “The Glory Land Castle” located in the heart of Yenagoa gulped at least N24bn.
But Governor Henry Seraike Dickson in statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the government did not spend up to N24bn on “The Glory Land Castle.”
According to him, the report was done with mischievous intent to deliberately portray the “Restoration Administration” (Dickson’s administration is popularly known) in bad light.
He said, “The Bayelsa State Government wishes to point out that, the photographs appearing on the front page and on page 12 are not pictures of the “State House, Bayelsa” and New Bayelsa Governor’s office as captioned.
In the first place, the name “State House, Bayelsa” does not exist anywhere and both the story and the said pictures it is a figment of the imagination of the author of the said piece of write-up.
“The story is same of the New Bayelsa governor’s office, which is still under construction and have no resemblance of any kind with the picture on page 12 of same paper.
“Furthermore, the insinuation that, so much money is being spent on putting up an office complex for the Governor to the detriment of the State University, is again totally false and a deliberate attempt at portraying the Restoration Administration in bad light.
“For the avoidance of any doubts, we want to place on record that, the administration of Hon. Seriake Dickson has made massive investments in the educational sector, including the State owned Niger Delta University and it will be too bad for anybody to feed the unsuspecting public with wrong information, when the facts are clearly there for all to see and substantiate.
“It is also clear that, the author is either ill informed or decided to feed the public with falsehood, as the structure referred to as the ‘Glory Land Castle’ did not cost as much as quoted, but it is not a part of Government House. It has since over two years ago, been converted to a six-star hotel and forms an integral component of the new Tourism Island to boost tourism in the State.
“The Government frowns at this and calls on the public to disregard the publication, as both the story and the pictures, does not represent the reality on the ground, in bad taste and the handiwork of mischief makers, who are just out to rubbish the good works and positive intentions of the Bayelsa State Government under Hon. Seriake Dickson.
“The Bayelsa State Government is also using this opportunity to call on members of the press, who have been of immense support to the administration, to always cross check their facts, before publishing their stories.”
