31st October, 2022
By Ekio Benson Iziama
Floods have forced His Highness, Amos Poubinafa, the traditional ruler of Tungbo town in Bayelsa state, to sleep in his car.
The retired naval officer disclosed this in an interview on Monday.
He said, “It reached the knee level and made the palace uninhabitable. I have been sleeping in my Toyota Sienna for two weeks since the flood ravaged the palace.”
“The car is the only safe place for me; the entire building is flooded and there is no safer place for me to sleep. My family has been relocated to Yenagoa. As the Captain on board (traditional ruler) of this vessel, I cannot abandon my subjects to seek an alternative abode outside the town.
“By my training as a naval officer, I am not expected to abandon the crew I am leading in my vessel. I am expected to be the last man standing,’’ he said.
Poubinafa added that he equally suffered the 2012 floods as he could not leave his subjects and relocate and that the situation is worse in 2022.
Meanwhile, he appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency, the Bayelsa Emergency Management Agency and other well-meaning individuals to assist flood victims in Tungbo town.
He also called on the Federal Government to construct dams and dredge Rivers Niger and Benue to end perennial flooding in parts of the country.