The traditional ruler of Tungbo town in Sagbama LGA of Bayelsa, Amos Poubinafa, has resorted to sleeping in his car after being displaced from his palace due to floods.

“I have been sleeping in my Toyota Sienna for two weeks since the flood ravaged the palace.

“It reached the knee level and made the palace uninhabitable,” His Highness Poubinafa said on Monday in Tungbo.

Mr Poubinafa retired from the Nigerian Navy as a lieutenant commander in 2002 before he ascended the throne.

He added that, “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) this vessel, I cannot abandon my subjects to seek 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.”

Mr Poubinafa also said that he equally suffered in the floods of 2012 as he could not leave his subjects and relocate and that the situation is worse in 2022.

He appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency, the Bayelsa Emergency Management Agency and well meaning Nigerians to assist flood victims in his domain.

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.

Tungbo community is host to the Federal Scones and Technical College, a co-educational college founded in 2002 and located on Sagbama-Tungbo Road.

(NAN)