July 10, (THEWILL) – The Bayelsa state governor, Senator Douye Diri and other prominent Nigerians are among the galaxy of dignitaries expected at the book launch, authored by HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama kingdom, Agada iv and the chairman, Bayelsa state Traditional Rulers Council.
The two books slated to be officially launched, “Once a Soldier” and “African Voice”, are two books that chronicled and encapsulated the monarch’s early childhood experience of how he was born and bred in the Niger Delta and an ample opportunity to lend his voice to the ranging intellectual discourse and agitation on marginalisation and injustices, meted out to the Niger Delta region, despite it’s contributions to the nation’s economy, the area is still wallowing in penury, abject poverty, underdevelopment with avalanche of indices of neglect and sufferings.
The Bayelsa state-born monarch, with activism still flowing in his blood, stated this at a pre-book launch press briefing, at the traditional rulers council secretariat in Yenagoa.
He disclosed that the Bayelsa state governor, senator Douye Diri, will be the chief host, while over 400 guests, 30 generals, the military brass, first class, second class and renowned traditional rulers from the Niger Delta region, as well as politicians and captains of industries, are expected to attend the epoch-making event, which would attract international discourse, especially on environmental degradation with its concomitant effects, oil theft and nefarious activities of multinational oil corporations in the Niger Delta.
“In fact, the list of dignitaries is endless. I’m afraid if the venue can accommodate everybody.”
On what motivated him to write these books, the erudite monarch, posited that there had been a lot of unfair treatment, inequality, and injustices suffered by the people of the Niger Delta region, which need to be articulated and aggregated to the awareness of authorities because the issues of the region were still unknown and deserve intellectual discourse to attract attention.
Though he loves writing, he listed the lack of available printing press, inadequate publishing houses, funding and marketing, as factors militating against the publishing industries and budding authors.
