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Tag: Alamieyeseigha

  • Alamieyeseigha finally gets burial date

    Alamieyeseigha finally gets burial date

    It is no longer news that former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, is dead. What is news is that friends, associates and family members finally have a chance to pay their last respects and many of his friends who have hitherto doubted the reality of his death can finally come to terms with it.

    According to the traditional ruler of Amassoma Kingdom and first cousin of the deceased Ijaw leader, Major Graham Naingba (rtd), the funeral of the former governor, who died in October last year, will commence on March 24 and end on March 26.

    The monarch said the deceased would have been buried on November 16 last year to coincide with his 63 birthday, but it had to be put off because of preparations for the state governorship election and the inability of the state government and the deceased’s family to agree on that date.

  • When will Alamieyeseigha be buried?

    When will Alamieyeseigha be buried?

    Tongues are again wagging in the direction of oil-rich Bayelsa State. But this time, the nosy ones are not talking about the battle for the Government House, rather questions are being asked about when and where former governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who died at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), last year, would be buried.

    In fact, some are even asking if the late politician has been buried without much fanfare. But checks by Ripples suggest the contrary, and that is why we are echoing the question on many lips here. For the records, Governor Seriake Dickson had, immediately after the demise of the former governor, set up a committee to begin preparations for his burial. He also promised to give the late Alamieyeseigha a state burial.

    The committee had the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd) as its Chairman, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, Vice-Chairman with the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Edmund Alison-Oguru, as Secretary. Others named as members of the committee were – Senator Foster Ogola, member of the House of Representatives, Henry Ofongo; Commissioners of Information and Orientation, Health, Works and Infrastructure and Culture and Ijaw National Affairs. The Chief of Staff, Government House, Yenagoa and the Principal Executive Secretary to the Governor, were also included amongst others.

    But not much has been heard about the committee, its members and its assignment for a while now. While some people are quick to cite the just concluded election in the state as a major reason for the lull in the activities of the committee, others say there are some issues needing clarifications as regards the death and burial of the late governor.

    Whatever the case may be, it is important that the world be told if the late ‘Governor-General’ of Ijaw nation has been buried or not. And if not, Governor Dickson should please say something about when, where and how he will be laid to rest.

  • Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    A former Governor of Bayelsa State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 governorship election, Chief Timipre Sylva, speaks on wide range of issues including misrepresentations of his personality in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU.

    The Governor recently described you as a ‘guy man’. He has also said you plunged the state into huge debts. How much debt did you really leave? 

    Well, I wonder what (Seriake) Dickson mean by a ‘guy man’ but I think I am a typical Bayelsan. Dickson is just a disgrace to himself. Everybody knows that Governor Dickson is a bushman. I am not exaggerating because that’s who he is. He lacks self confidence, which is why he calls me ‘guy man’.

    You also raised the issue of debt burden. The figures are there.  I inherited debts from (former President Goodluck) Jonathan, who was governor. Now, what we did was servicing those debts. What I did was to take a bond to absorb the debts that I inherited. I took a N50 billion bond because we felt that if we serviced the loans alone in commercial banks it was costing us a lot. So, we took some of that loan and absorbed it in that bond and then we took some of that money from that bond to pay our contractors on the Brass Road and then we paid some money to the contractor on the Melfred Okilo Hospital. The bond was structured in such a way that it is a long term bond, so the tenure was longer so it could be easier for the state government to pay the interest rate and cope with it. So we were able to put all the loans that we inherited into that bond.

    Now, when I left and I hope that the Dickson administration will be sincere, I will never lie to Bayelsans, I have a commercial loan stock of N20billion which I was hoping I will be able to finish paying by May that year and I would have finished paying it if I was there by then. Now, the government of Jonathan owed contractors N111billion and by the time I was leaving the contractor debt rose to N207billion. Let us face it, contracts may have been given by the Jonathan administration and the term of the contract may have been given by the previous government. It is a continuous thing. You keep saying I owed so much; most of that money they were talking about was contractor’s debts. If they are truthful they will tell you. I am sure that if I take over today the contractor debts would have gone up to above N400billion. I would not go out and announce that Dickson owes so much that is for somebody that does not understand economics.

    The loan stock of N20billion that l owed, Dickson could have paid it off in the first three months because when he came in was when fuel subsidy was particularly removed. The first year I got into government I received N89billion from the federation account, the first year Dickson came, he received N191billion. Second year, I received N154billion, Dickson received N216billion. The third year I received N106billion, Dickson received N156billion. So what is he talking about?

    The PDP has continued to accuse you of using the security outfit codenamed Famou-Tangbe to maim and kill innocent citizens during your first tenure. Can you respond to this?

    Look, Famou-Tangbe was formed as a security outfit. He (Dickson) realised that there was the need for a specialized outfit. He himself has formed one and I can tell you and give you names. At least I know one name of somebody that has been killed by his outfit. I have pictures that I can show you; people that were killed, they do a lot of extra-judicial killings. The decision to form the security outfit Famou-Tangbe was taken in a security council meeting because we need to set up a specialized outfit to combat the rising wave of crime, especially coming at the time after militancy and a lot of these young men were out from the creeks and there was a rise in criminality in the city.

    So we decided to set up a security outfit in collaboration with the police. The name was not from me. The name was suggested by my then security adviser, Richard Kpodo. Famou-Tangbe is not my dialect. He thought that name was a better name even though I suggested ‘Instant Reaction Squad’. In the Security Council I was out-voted. They thought we need to have a name in the language spoken around and I also okayed it.

    That outfit was overseen by Pere Rich as my security Adviser but under the police. If any crime was committed by Famutangbe, Pere Rich is working with Governor Dickson and so I challenged him to arrest Pere Rich. As far as governor Dickson is concerned, it is just the name that is the problem. The name was not my suggestion and I am happy that he is now working with governor Dickson and I wish them well.

    Some people are asking what you forgot in Government House

    Anybody that ask that question is ignorant. I left Bayelsa State Government House unwillingly and all Bayelsans know the circumstances under which I left and since then no other opportunity has presented itself for me to re-contest for that office. This is the first opportunity that has presented itself since 2012 and so I don’t know why anybody will ask me if I forgot anything.

    I was disqualified by the power that be from contesting an office I was still occupying at the time. I think that was the most preposterous thing, the most unjust thing that has happen to Bayelsa State. Most well-meaning Bayelsans think this is the time for God’s justice to be done by bringing me back and that’s why you see this overwhelming support. I didn’t forget anything in Government House, the Government House is currently occupied by an usurper who came and use federal might.

    Today, when they now begin to shout about federal might, I wonder. Look at Bayelsa now, look at Yenagoa, do you see any army check point? Now, take your mind back to 2012, at this time, towards the election in 2012, we had over a hundred check points, manned by fierce-looking armed soldiers.

    Now, nothing of such is happening and yet they still want to scream because they are scared of their own shadows. I didn’t forget but I think it’s time for me to reclaim what is justly mine. Today, those people who barred me from contesting that election are no longer in office by the grace of God, so the Bayelsa people have the opportunity of choosing their rightful leader and that is why I am presenting myself.

    Your party, the APC dislodged your brother, Goodluck Jonathan from the Presidency. Don’t you think this alone might affect your chances at the poll?

    I don’t think this will have any impact on the election at all. Every Ijaw man should be fair to me and the APC. The former President set the scene for his exit from office by bringing the war to his home. He started the fire and he didn’t start the fire in any other place, he started it from his own home. Look, after I was removed from office, I went to exile I was arrested by all kinds of people, many times. They never even left me alone after removing me from office; they wanted to kill me; they wanted to jail me; they wanted to do everything to me. I was visited by a lots of elders from different parts of the country; elders from the west visited me; elders from the east visited me; elders from the north visited me and the one question on the lips of all those elders who visited me, ‘do you not have elders in Bayelsa State who can intervene between yourself and the President?’ And I have no answer to give them.

    He lost the election, the people of Bayelsa must move on in this country. Nigeria is not meant for us to lead forever, it was an opportunity, we led the country and now, it is  no longer our time so anybody who is still reveling  in that period is still leaving in the history. Please wake up, today is a new day and today there is an APC government at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the earlier we wake up to that fact, the better for us.

    The incumbent governor has always said that the election is not going to be about him or you but about the people of Ijaw and that PDP is an Ijaw party.

    In a way I will agree with the governor that the election is not about me or about him but it is about Bayelsans and about the Ijaw people. I agree with him about that but when you take it further then you can see the state of mind of the man we are talking about. He has a confused state of mind obviously. I had said in other fora that none of the parties, neither APC nor PDP is an Ijaw party, they are national parties. I was one of those who brought PDP into Bayelsa, he was not even a member of the PDP. He was a member of AD at that time and then later I think he became a member of the ANPP at a time, he was never even a member of the PDP. When I was in PDP, he was not even in PDP, he was just an interloper that joined to get the benefit. Has he worked for that party? Because as far as I know after contributing to the impeachment of Alamieseigha, he came here and as compensation, he was made a commissioner.

    That was how he came to the PDP; he was made a commissioner as a compensation for the role he played in the impeachment of Alamieseigha. Then he became a member of the House of Representatives because of his perceived loyalty to the former President and then a governor because they were the people who told all kind of lies to the former President and set him up against me. So, he became a beneficiary of lies.

    So, I can’t blame him because he doesn’t even really know what the PDP stands for. The APC is also a national party. There is nothing they can do for the Ijaw nation; the person who loves Ijaw people must take Bayelsa to the centre and this is what is going to improve the lots of Bayelsans.

    So, if we are talking of Ijaw patriot, I consider myself one as I think today that well meaning Ijaw people are quite happy with me because they believe that without me, there would have been no link with the centre, there would have been no bridge builder. Now, I have provided that link to the centre. I think that on the contrary, the APC is the patriotic party and I am the patriotic one. And I think that the Ijaw people should embrace the APC because this is our time to really get to the centre. We have to live in this same country whether our president lost the election or not. It is not the Ijaw people that lost the election because Ijaw people did not contest an election, I didn’t see Ijaw people on the ballot.

    Dickson and the PDP have always described you as being violent. How do you react to this?

    You see they always say that the cat wanted the apple and he jumped to catch the apple and couldn’t get the apple, then he consoled himself by saying ‘rotten apple’ and then he walks away. That is his only compensation because he just couldn’t get it.

    Now, let me tell you that even the outgoing governor did everything to join the APC. But you know the APC is not for people like him. The APC is not for bullies, Pharaohs and Emperors and so unfortunately we didn’t accept him and now he is saying rotten apple because he couldn’t get in. Maybe if he had gotten in, he would be saying by now that the APC is the greatest party. The APC cannot be a violent party, look at the streets today, just a few days, he himself instructed people to go out there and tear down my posters. Everywhere you go my posters are on the ground as if tearing posters means winning election.

    All the cases of violence have been perpetrated by the PDP. APC members have been violated in most wards, injured sometimes and we have to go out in our campaigns with extra security because of security threats.

    I fought militancy. On the contrary the outgoing governor is the violent one who perpetrates violence, supports it and, sponsors it.

    Every lawful tactics to remove him out of office will be used by the APC and of course Bayelsans cannot possibly take another four years of Dickson’s ineptitude. So he continues to blame the APC for everything.

    But the PDP said when you were a governor you underperformed and left a lot of abandoned projects including the airport project?

    That to me is the continuation of his frustration and paranoid. I came into government, there were a lot of projects, ongoing projects, and I did not call them abandoned projects. Every government starts a project and if they don’t finish such project, the incoming government finishes the project. Banquet hall was such a project, it was started by Alameisiegha. I furnished it.

    The treasury building was one of such projects, I finished it. The Judiciary building, the library I finished them. I can’t finish counting them; I could have said they were abandoned projects because a lot of those projects were not even touched by the Jonathan administration. They were started by Alameisiegha but were abandoned by the Jonathan administration but I came and I took off from the very beginning and completed all those projects. The way I left office nobody would have taught I would have completed all those projects because I left in the middle of my tenure. My tenure was truncated, I wasn’t given time to finish the projects. When Dickson leaves now, he will leave a lot of projects also uncompleted does it mean I will consider them abandoned projects because he did not complete them? He has abandoned his own projects now, which are the real meaning of abandoned projects. All the hospitals he has been building in Oporoma, in all places have been abandoned. He has abandoned the Isaac Boro road; he is the one that is abandoning his own projects.

     

     

  • Alamieyeseigha’s life in picture

    Alamieyeseigha’s life in picture

    They mistook shame for fame. Their yardstick for measuring the conduct of public officials has been so enamoured with inanity that they chose to re-write history with a formal investiture of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha into the fold of exemplary leaders in the political space. They knew about the outcry the state pardon Dr. Goodluck Jonathan granted the ex-convict generated and yet went ahead to twist reality by refurbishing the public perception of a man whose acts of extreme larceny is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

    It was a public endorsement of corruption in a supposedly anti-corruption era; while the nation still battles with an image so shattered and battered by chameleonic elements in the mould of DSP, they sort to sell him to us as an individual whose graft must be overlooked because he was mortal after all. To them, his activism in championing the rights of the Ijaw nation which never interfered with his embrace of men of other tongues is enough to wipe out all his sins.

    For a man that stole so much from his people, nothing betrays the democratic ideal our senators swore to uphold than the public veneration of the hat-man. While he sees himself otherwise, reminiscent of Two Gun Crowley in Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people, no one should be left in doubt as to the authority stealing and extreme perfidy of the former governor as he indirectly confirmed it himself when he alleged that the EFCC failed to declare a number of his forfeited properties.

    Had the circumstance surrounding his ordeal been read on the history shelf, one would have doubted , but for an event that happened barely some 10 years ago, one is bewildered as several members of the political elite took turn to speak in worship of a man who contributed in no small way to the castration of the Nigerian project.

    Had the end of life brought forth a redact of history, Hitler should by now be no less a Jew than Ariel Sharon.It is like General Sanni Abacha whose reputation amongst a sizeable number of his people is never short of that of a Winston Churchill among the English. I once engaged a northern colleague – a university graduate – on his opinion about the former dictator and his reply was that the late general never stashed Nigeria’s money with the intention of keeping it for himself and his family. Instead, he said Abacha was a foresighted man whose aim was to keep the nation’s money far away from the claws of corrupt Nigerian officials especially civil servants for protection against monumental theft. To him, the Nigerian people, especially the southerners keep pouring dirt on a Nigerian hero for saving so much for future use.

    Upon his death, he was dressed in Gandhi’s garb for what they called “an unrelenting struggle for his people;” spoken about at par with Rick Warren for his philanthropy, hailed as a man for standing up to Chief Obasanjo who was behind his political ordeal, and praised for his style of politicking. If only they knew how dangerous a precedent they were laying for the younger generation, they would have situated their comparison into proper context because Gandhi’s struggle was championed via extreme self-denial and restraint from anything worldly; with no iota of materialism.

    Had they understood the fundamentals of public good, they would have isolated whatever individual gains they got from their hero from philanthropy for a hand ceases to be that of a philanthropist when it gives from that which ordinarily belong to the people.

    While teachers provide guidance within the school system, and parents do same in the upbringing of their wards, the body language and utterances of elected officials sets the tone for a nation. This is why the continued adulation showered on a man whose pardon the United States Embassy described as “deeply disappointing” should serve as a pointer to the kind of leadership the political elite is preaching. That the London police revealed that in currency and properties, the former governor had invested at least $18 million. Hear Governor  Seriake Dickson. ‘’As far as he is concerned, Bayelsans are proud of his life and the legacies he left behind.”One wonders the kind of legacies Dickson was talking about. He upgraded his mentor beyond the class of what majority of Nigerian politicians are: parasites on the nation.

    What men who immortalise looters fail to grasp is that the goodness or otherwise of a man becomes inconsequential once public trust has been breached; for the atrocities carried out by men like DSP not only damaged the economic fabric of this nation, it brought us to the very nadir on the morality bar.Both the senators and the Ijaw elites held the nation’s consciousness hostage to inaugurate a tainted man into Nigeria’s hall of fame. As birds of the same feather, little did they know that the citizens have long carved his name in stone as a patron of the nation’s hall of shame.

    Alamieyeseigha stayed in the government house stealing and accumulating as much as he could – an act that clouded his consciousness from the fact that like life, it’s a transient seat. With death, he is now a man of yesterday, forgotten and forgotten, forever and forever. He failed to understand that men remain ordinary men unless they do the extra-ordinary: formulate a theorem, write an equation, or move the minds of people.

    The governor did neither. His is not the kind of legacy young Nigerians need to emulate.

     

    • Modiu, is a Corps member, NYSC Jebba

  • Alamieyeseigha’s life in picture

    They mistook shame for fame. Their yardstick for measuring the conduct of public officials has been so enamoured with inanity that they chose to re-write history with a formal investiture of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha into the fold of exemplary leaders in the political space. They knew about the outcry the state pardon Dr. Goodluck Jonathan granted the ex-convict generated and yet went ahead to twist reality by refurbishing the public perception of a man whose acts of extreme larceny is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

    It was a public endorsement of corruption in a supposedly anti-corruption era; while the nation still battles with an image so shattered and battered by chameleonic elements in the mould of DSP, they sort to sell him to us as an individual whose graft must be overlooked because he was mortal after all. To them, his activism in championing the rights of the Ijaw nation which never interfered with his embrace of men of other tongues is enough to wipe out all his sins.

    For a man that stole so much from his people, nothing betrays the democratic ideal our senators swore to uphold than the public veneration of the hat-man. While he sees himself otherwise, reminiscent of Two Gun Crowley in Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people, no one should be left in doubt as to the authority stealing and extreme perfidy of the former governor as he indirectly confirmed it himself when he alleged that the EFCC failed to declare a number of his forfeited properties.

    Had the circumstance surrounding his ordeal been read on the history shelf, one would have doubted , but for an event that happened barely some 10 years ago, one is bewildered as several members of the political elite took turn to speak in worship of a man who contributed in no small way to the castration of the Nigerian project.

    Had the end of life brought forth a redact of history, Hitler should by now be no less a Jew than Ariel Sharon.It is like General Sanni Abacha whose reputation amongst a sizeable number of his people is never short of that of a Winston Churchill among the English. I once engaged a northern colleague – a university graduate – on his opinion about the former dictator and his reply was that the late general never stashed Nigeria’s money with the intention of keeping it for himself and his family. Instead, he said Abacha was a foresighted man whose aim was to keep the nation’s money far away from the claws of corrupt Nigerian officials especially civil servants for protection against monumental theft. To him, the Nigerian people, especially the southerners keep pouring dirt on a Nigerian hero for saving so much for future use.

    Upon his death, he was dressed in Gandhi’s garb for what they called “an unrelenting struggle for his people;” spoken about at par with Rick Warren for his philanthropy, hailed as a man for standing up to Chief Obasanjo who was behind his political ordeal, and praised for his style of politicking. If only they knew how dangerous a precedent they were laying for the younger generation, they would have situated their comparison into proper context because Gandhi’s struggle was championed via extreme self-denial and restraint from anything worldly; with no iota of materialism.

    Had they understood the fundamentals of public good, they would have isolated whatever individual gains they got from their hero from philanthropy for a hand ceases to be that of a philanthropist when it gives from that which ordinarily belong to the people.

    While teachers provide guidance within the school system, and parents do same in the upbringing of their wards, the body language and utterances of elected officials sets the tone for a nation. This is why the continued adulation showered on a man whose pardon the United States Embassy described as “deeply disappointing” should serve as a pointer to the kind of leadership the political elite is preaching. That the London police revealed that in currency and properties, the former governor had invested at least $18 million. Hear Governor  Seriake Dickson. ‘’As far as he is concerned, Bayelsans are proud of his life and the legacies he left behind.”One wonders the kind of legacies Dickson was talking about. He upgraded his mentor beyond the class of what majority of Nigerian politicians are: parasites on the nation.

    What men who immortalise looters fail to grasp is that the goodness or otherwise of a man becomes inconsequential once public trust has been breached; for the atrocities carried out by men like DSP not only damaged the economic fabric of this nation, it brought us to the very nadir on the morality bar.Both the senators and the Ijaw elites held the nation’s consciousness hostage to inaugurate a tainted man into Nigeria’s hall of fame. As birds of the same feather, little did they know that the citizens have long carved his name in stone as a patron of the nation’s hall of shame.

    Alamieyeseigha stayed in the government house stealing and accumulating as much as he could – an act that clouded his consciousness from the fact that like life, it’s a transient seat. With death, he is now a man of yesterday, forgotten and forgotten, forever and forever. He failed to understand that men remain ordinary men unless they do the extra-ordinary: formulate a theorem, write an equation, or move the minds of people.

    The governor did neither. His is not the kind of legacy young Nigerians need to emulate.

     

    • Modiu, is a Corps member, NYSC Jebba

  • Alamieyeseigha’s life in picture

    They mistook shame for fame. Their yardstick for measuring the conduct of public officials has been so enamoured with inanity that they chose to re-write history with a formal investiture of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha into the fold of exemplary leaders in the political space. They knew about the outcry the state pardon Dr. Goodluck Jonathan granted the ex-convict generated and yet went ahead to twist reality by refurbishing the public perception of a man whose acts of extreme larceny is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

    It was a public endorsement of corruption in a supposedly anti-corruption era; while the nation still battles with an image so shattered and battered by chameleonic elements in the mould of DSP, they sort to sell him to us as an individual whose graft must be overlooked because he was mortal after all. To them, his activism in championing the rights of the Ijaw nation which never interfered with his embrace of men of other tongues is enough to wipe out all his sins.

    For a man that stole so much from his people, nothing betrays the democratic ideal our senators swore to uphold than the public veneration of the hat-man. While he sees himself otherwise, reminiscent of Two Gun Crowley in Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people, no one should be left in doubt as to the authority stealing and extreme perfidy of the former governor as he indirectly confirmed it himself when he alleged that the EFCC failed to declare a number of his forfeited properties.

    Had the circumstance surrounding his ordeal been read on the history shelf, one would have doubted , but for an event that happened barely some 10 years ago, one is bewildered as several members of the political elite took turn to speak in worship of a man who contributed in no small way to the castration of the Nigerian project.

    Had the end of life brought forth a redact of history, Hitler should by now be no less a Jew than Ariel Sharon.It is like General Sanni Abacha whose reputation amongst a sizeable number of his people is never short of that of a Winston Churchill among the English. I once engaged a northern colleague – a university graduate – on his opinion about the former dictator and his reply was that the late general never stashed Nigeria’s money with the intention of keeping it for himself and his family. Instead, he said Abacha was a foresighted man whose aim was to keep the nation’s money far away from the claws of corrupt Nigerian officials especially civil servants for protection against monumental theft. To him, the Nigerian people, especially the southerners keep pouring dirt on a Nigerian hero for saving so much for future use.

    Upon his death, he was dressed in Gandhi’s garb for what they called “an unrelenting struggle for his people;” spoken about at par with Rick Warren for his philanthropy, hailed as a man for standing up to Chief Obasanjo who was behind his political ordeal, and praised for his style of politicking. If only they knew how dangerous a precedent they were laying for the younger generation, they would have situated their comparison into proper context because Gandhi’s struggle was championed via extreme self-denial and restraint from anything worldly; with no iota of materialism.

    Had they understood the fundamentals of public good, they would have isolated whatever individual gains they got from their hero from philanthropy for a hand ceases to be that of a philanthropist when it gives from that which ordinarily belong to the people.

    While teachers provide guidance within the school system, and parents do same in the upbringing of their wards, the body language and utterances of elected officials sets the tone for a nation. This is why the continued adulation showered on a man whose pardon the United States Embassy described as “deeply disappointing” should serve as a pointer to the kind of leadership the political elite is preaching. That the London police revealed that in currency and properties, the former governor had invested at least $18 million. Hear Governor  Seriake Dickson. ‘’As far as he is concerned, Bayelsans are proud of his life and the legacies he left behind.”One wonders the kind of legacies Dickson was talking about. He upgraded his mentor beyond the class of what majority of Nigerian politicians are: parasites on the nation.

    What men who immortalise looters fail to grasp is that the goodness or otherwise of a man becomes inconsequential once public trust has been breached; for the atrocities carried out by men like DSP not only damaged the economic fabric of this nation, it brought us to the very nadir on the morality bar.Both the senators and the Ijaw elites held the nation’s consciousness hostage to inaugurate a tainted man into Nigeria’s hall of fame. As birds of the same feather, little did they know that the citizens have long carved his name in stone as a patron of the nation’s hall of shame.

    Alamieyeseigha stayed in the government house stealing and accumulating as much as he could – an act that clouded his consciousness from the fact that like life, it’s a transient seat. With death, he is now a man of yesterday, forgotten and forgotten, forever and forever. He failed to understand that men remain ordinary men unless they do the extra-ordinary: formulate a theorem, write an equation, or move the minds of people.

    The governor did neither. His is not the kind of legacy young Nigerians need to emulate.

     

    • Modiu, is a Corps member, NYSC Jebba

  • Alamieyeseigha’s life in picture

    They mistook shame for fame. Their yardstick for measuring the conduct of public officials has been so enamoured with inanity that they chose to re-write history with a formal investiture of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha into the fold of exemplary leaders in the political space. They knew about the outcry the state pardon Dr. Goodluck Jonathan granted the ex-convict generated and yet went ahead to twist reality by refurbishing the public perception of a man whose acts of extreme larceny is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

    It was a public endorsement of corruption in a supposedly anti-corruption era; while the nation still battles with an image so shattered and battered by chameleonic elements in the mould of DSP, they sort to sell him to us as an individual whose graft must be overlooked because he was mortal after all. To them, his activism in championing the rights of the Ijaw nation which never interfered with his embrace of men of other tongues is enough to wipe out all his sins.

    For a man that stole so much from his people, nothing betrays the democratic ideal our senators swore to uphold than the public veneration of the hat-man. While he sees himself otherwise, reminiscent of Two Gun Crowley in Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people, no one should be left in doubt as to the authority stealing and extreme perfidy of the former governor as he indirectly confirmed it himself when he alleged that the EFCC failed to declare a number of his forfeited properties.

    Had the circumstance surrounding his ordeal been read on the history shelf, one would have doubted , but for an event that happened barely some 10 years ago, one is bewildered as several members of the political elite took turn to speak in worship of a man who contributed in no small way to the castration of the Nigerian project.

    Had the end of life brought forth a redact of history, Hitler should by now be no less a Jew than Ariel Sharon.It is like General Sanni Abacha whose reputation amongst a sizeable number of his people is never short of that of a Winston Churchill among the English. I once engaged a northern colleague – a university graduate – on his opinion about the former dictator and his reply was that the late general never stashed Nigeria’s money with the intention of keeping it for himself and his family. Instead, he said Abacha was a foresighted man whose aim was to keep the nation’s money far away from the claws of corrupt Nigerian officials especially civil servants for protection against monumental theft. To him, the Nigerian people, especially the southerners keep pouring dirt on a Nigerian hero for saving so much for future use.

    Upon his death, he was dressed in Gandhi’s garb for what they called “an unrelenting struggle for his people;” spoken about at par with Rick Warren for his philanthropy, hailed as a man for standing up to Chief Obasanjo who was behind his political ordeal, and praised for his style of politicking. If only they knew how dangerous a precedent they were laying for the younger generation, they would have situated their comparison into proper context because Gandhi’s struggle was championed via extreme self-denial and restraint from anything worldly; with no iota of materialism.

    Had they understood the fundamentals of public good, they would have isolated whatever individual gains they got from their hero from philanthropy for a hand ceases to be that of a philanthropist when it gives from that which ordinarily belong to the people.

    While teachers provide guidance within the school system, and parents do same in the upbringing of their wards, the body language and utterances of elected officials sets the tone for a nation. This is why the continued adulation showered on a man whose pardon the United States Embassy described as “deeply disappointing” should serve as a pointer to the kind of leadership the political elite is preaching. That the London police revealed that in currency and properties, the former governor had invested at least $18 million. Hear Governor  Seriake Dickson. ‘’As far as he is concerned, Bayelsans are proud of his life and the legacies he left behind.”One wonders the kind of legacies Dickson was talking about. He upgraded his mentor beyond the class of what majority of Nigerian politicians are: parasites on the nation.

    What men who immortalise looters fail to grasp is that the goodness or otherwise of a man becomes inconsequential once public trust has been breached; for the atrocities carried out by men like DSP not only damaged the economic fabric of this nation, it brought us to the very nadir on the morality bar.Both the senators and the Ijaw elites held the nation’s consciousness hostage to inaugurate a tainted man into Nigeria’s hall of fame. As birds of the same feather, little did they know that the citizens have long carved his name in stone as a patron of the nation’s hall of shame.

    Alamieyeseigha stayed in the government house stealing and accumulating as much as he could – an act that clouded his consciousness from the fact that like life, it’s a transient seat. With death, he is now a man of yesterday, forgotten and forgotten, forever and forever. He failed to understand that men remain ordinary men unless they do the extra-ordinary: formulate a theorem, write an equation, or move the minds of people.

    The governor did neither. His is not the kind of legacy young Nigerians need to emulate.

     

    • Modiu, is a Corps member, NYSC Jebba
  • Alamieyeseigha: two sides of a coin

    Alamieyeseigha: two sides of a coin

    Former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was a factor in the politics of Niger Delta. Fondly called Governor-General of Ijaw Nation by admirers, the death of the ebullient politician has created a leadership vacuum in the oil-rich state. Correspondent MIKE ODIEGWU revisits the life and times of the colourful politician, his achievements, controversies and implications of his death for the region.

    Like or hate him, the life and times of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, will forever remain a reference point in the history of the Niger Delta.

    This is because he meant different things to different people. While some people saw him as a symbol of corruption, others believe he is a victim of high-wire political manoeuvring and a villain in an anti-corruption drama written and stage-managed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Yet, others view the former governor as a man with good heart, generous and self-sacrificing.

    Alamieyeseiyha, the Ijaw Iroko, was cut down by death on October 10, 2015. He died suddenly at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt, Rivers State after suffering health complications reportedly caused by hypertension and kidney failures.

    Since his death, condolence messages have been pouring in, in torrents. Prominent visitors and high-profile personalities and delegates have been frequenting the palatial houses of the late former governor in Yenagoa and Port Harcourt. Like the rivers, tributes to Alamieyeseiyha have been flowing unceasingly. People have, indeed, shown him posthumous love.

    He came to political limelight in 1999 when he became the first executive governor of Bayelsa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after retiring as a Squadron Leader from the Nigerian Airforce. There was no infrastructure at the time Alamieyeseiyha took over the reins of power. Only a pathway led to Yenagoa from the East-West Road. Bayelsa was like a hamlet; lacking in all aspects of development.

     

    Architect of modern Bayelsa

     

    The former governor laid the foundation for the development of the state. Till his death, nobody, including the incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson, was able to beat the records set by Alamieyeseigha. At a time federal allocations were said to have hovered between N3bn and N4bn monthly, Alamieyeseigha undertook landmark projects that later defined and opened up the state.

    The former governor constructed the first modern road that leads to Bayelsa from the East-West Road. The dual carriage way, popularly called the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road, has until today remained the only means of accessing the state. Little wonder people still describe Bayelsa as a one-road state.

    The Isaac Boro Expressway, old Commissioners’ and Assembly Quarters, Tombia-Amassoma Bridge, the Niger Delta University (NDU), Creek Motel, Treasury  Building, Civil Servant Quarters, the State Secretariat, numerous school projects, Samson Siasia Sports Complex and NDU Teaching Hospital Okolobiri were projects initiated and completed by Alamieyeseigha. Apart from the sports complex, which is now in a decrepit state, no governor after Alamieyeseigha had thought it wise to build a befitting stadium in the state.

    Alamieyeseiyha was known for regular payments of bursaries. He also awarded scholarships to masters and doctorate degree students and youth and women empowerment. Most of the value-adding projects he could not complete before he was impeached in 2005 were abandoned by successive governors who were accused of using them as conduits to fritter away the state resources.

    For instance, people are amused at the inability of Alamieyeseigha’s successors to complete the 500-bed hospital at Imgbi Road, which was designed by the late former governor as a world-class facility to introduce medical tourism in the state. People are also surprised that successive governors abandoned a state library which Alamieyeseigha intiated but could not complete.

    In fact, Bayelsa is littered with projects which were abandoned halfway by Alamieyeseigha because of his impeachment. Observers believe that if such projects were completed by successive governors, they would have added to the beauty and development of the state.

     

    The man Alamieyeseigha

     

    People also remember Alamieyeseigha for his generosity. Despite his giant strides in infrastructural development, the late former governor was a man of empowerment, which is now known as stomach infrastructure. He empowered many people with raw cash and contracts. He was said to have freely doled out money to people who used to besiege the Government House with many demands.

    He reportedly had an army of wealthy politicians who belonged to his political school of thought; they are known as Alamcoism. Formed from his nickname Alamco, Alamcoism is a political movement that harps on the combination of physical and stomach infrastructures in governance as a means of reaching the hearts of the people. Alamco, no doubt, created many millionaires and perhaps billionaires from rural poor communities.

     

    Most popular politician in Bayelsa

     

    A few days before his death, Alamieyeseigha hosted Dickson and his entourage in his expansive compound at Amassoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, when the governor came to inform him of his decision to seek a second term in office. He used the opportunity to refer to his political philosophy, Alamcoism.

    He said: “I have the memory of how we started and l claim that almost all the PDP members in this state graduated from Alamcoism. They are my products.”

    He recalled how he was drafted to the governorship race in 1999. He mentioned an elder statesman, Chief Thomson Okorotie, among the persons who mounted pressure on him to join the race.

    He said: “PDP in this state as you all know started in 1998. Most Bayelsans were in All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and they came to me that l should lead them. I was reluctant because l was receiving good salaries then. I was receiving $7000 a month then.

    “They came to my house four times to persuade me to contest for the governor of Bayelsa State. I succumbed to their request and since then l have been directly involved in the progress of the party in the past 16 years.”

    Despite his travails, the late former governor, also known by his chieftaincy title as the Olotu, remained the most popular politician in the state. Alamco dwarfed incumbent political office holders at any public event he attended. He was always welcomed by his people with thunderous ovation. In the midst of former President Goodluck Jonathan and Dickson, people prefered to identify with and to hail Alamco. He was not just popular, he had a cult following. He was no doubt a forceful and persuasive speaker.

    In fact, everybody who paid tributes to Alamieyeseigha recalled the solid foundation he laid in the state. Elders and contemporaries of Alamieyeseigha described his death as an irreparable loss of a great patriot.

    The elders under the auspices of the Bayelsa Elders Council (BEC) and the Bayelsa Development Forum (BDF) who spoke in Yenagoa referred to Alamieyeseigha as a defender of the oppressed, the champion of resource control and the crusader of the derivation principle.

    The Publicity Secretary of BEC, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said Alamieyeseigha in his tenure as a governor laid a solid foundation for the development of the state, including establishing the only state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU).

    While condoling with the family of the deceased, the people of Amassoma and the state government, the elders said Alamieyeseigha as a bridge-builder stood for the truth.

    Also speaking, the Secretary of BEC, Chief Banton Akpuruku, said Alamieyeseigha gave them hope for a united, virile and indivisible Nigerian state and laid a foundation for examplary leadership in the state.

    Akpuruku said: “He was indeed a leader of uncommon courage who gave the Izon generally a sense of pride in the committee of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. His demise has left a huge vacuum that will be extremely difficult to fill.”

     

    Institutionalised money-sharing

     

    But, Alamieyeseigha was also criticised for institutionalising the culture of sharing money. The former governor was said to have doled out money to people, especially youths out of sheer desire to assist them. The gesture reportedly reduced youths to become beggars and it made them lazy; it created a societal ill that has persisted till now. Most persons in the state believe that government money must be shared and any leader who fails to pander to the sharing formula does not deserve the people’s support.

    In fact, pundits believe that despite criticisms against him, Alamieyeseigha remained a hero in his state and the Ijaw nation and unless current and incoming leaders rule Bayelsa with vision and passion for develooment, they will always take a back seat whenever Alamieyeseigha is in the picture even in death.

  • Alamieyeseigha: two sides of a coin

    Alamieyeseigha: two sides of a coin

    Former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was a factor in the politics of Niger Delta. Fondly called Governor-General of Ijaw Nation by admirers, the death of the ebullient politician has created a leadership vacuum in the oil-rich state. Correspondent MIKE ODIEGWU revisits the life and times of the colourful politician, his achievements, controversies and implications of his death for the region.

    Like or hate him, the life and times of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, will forever remain a reference point in the history of the Niger Delta.

    This is because he meant different things to different people. While some people saw him as a symbol of corruption, others believe he is a victim of high-wire political manoeuvring and a villain in an anti-corruption drama written and stage-managed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Yet, others view the former governor as a man with good heart, generous and self-sacrificing.

    Alamieyeseigha, the Ijaw Iroko, was cut down by death on October 10, 2015. He died suddenly at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt, Rivers State after suffering health complications reportedly caused by hypertension and kidney failures.

    Since his death, condolence messages have been pouring in, in torrents. Prominent visitors and high-profile personalities and delegates have been frequenting the palatial houses of the late former governor in Yenagoa and Port Harcourt. Like the rivers, tributes to Alamieyeseiyha have been flowing unceasingly. People have, indeed, shown him posthumous love.

    He came to political limelight in 1999 when he became the first executive governor of Bayelsa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after retiring as a Squadron Leader from the Nigerian Airforce. There was no infrastructure at the time Alamieyeseiyha took over the reins of power. Only a pathway led to Yenagoa from the East-West Road. Bayelsa was like a hamlet; lacking in all aspects of development.

     

    Architect of modern Bayelsa

    The former governor laid the foundation for the development of the state. Till his death, nobody, including the incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson, was able to beat the records set by Alamieyeseigha. At a time federal allocations were said to have hovered between N3bn and N4bn monthly, Alamieyeseigha undertook landmark projects that later defined and opened up the state.

    The former governor constructed the first modern road that leads to Bayelsa from the East-West Road. The dual carriage way, popularly called the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road, has until today remained the only means of accessing the state. Little wonder people still describe Bayelsa as a one-road state.

    The Isaac Boro Expressway, old Commissioners’ and Assembly Quarters, Tombia-Amassoma Bridge, the Niger Delta University (NDU), Creek Motel, Treasury  Building, Civil Servant Quarters, the State Secretariat, numerous school projects, Samson Siasia Sports Complex and NDU Teaching Hospital Okolobiri were projects initiated and completed by Alamieyeseigha. Apart from the sports complex, which is now in a decrepit state, no governor after Alamieyeseigha had thought it wise to build a befitting stadium in the state.

    Alamieyeseiyha was known for regular payments of bursaries. He also awarded scholarships to masters and doctorate degree students and youth and women empowerment. Most of the value-adding projects he could not complete before he was impeached in 2005 were abandoned by successive governors who were accused of using them as conduits to fritter away the state resources.

    For instance, people are amused at the inability of Alamieyeseigha’s successors to complete the 500-bed hospital at Imgbi Road, which was designed by the late former governor as a world-class facility to introduce medical tourism in the state. People are also surprised that successive governors abandoned a state library which Alamieyeseigha intiated but could not complete.

    In fact, Bayelsa is littered with projects which were abandoned halfway by Alamieyeseigha because of his impeachment. Observers believe that if such projects were completed by successive governors, they would have added to the beauty and development of the state.

     

    The man Alamieyeseigha

     People also remember Alamieyeseigha for his generosity. Despite his giant strides in infrastructural development, the late former governor was a man of empowerment, which is now known as stomach infrastructure. He empowered many people with raw cash and contracts. He was said to have freely doled out money to people who used to besiege the Government House with many demands.

    He reportedly had an army of wealthy politicians who belonged to his political school of thought; they are known as Alamcoism. Formed from his nickname Alamco, Alamcoism is a political movement that harps on the combination of physical and stomach infrastructures in governance as a means of reaching the hearts of the people. Alamco, no doubt, created many millionaires and perhaps billionaires from rural poor communities.

     

    Most popular politician in Bayelsa

    A few days before his death, Alamieyeseigha hosted Dickson and his entourage in his expansive compound at Amassoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, when the governor came to inform him of his decision to seek a second term in office. He used the opportunity to refer to his political philosophy, Alamcoism.

    He said: “I have the memory of how we started and l claim that almost all the PDP members in this state graduated from Alamcoism. They are my products.”

    He recalled how he was drafted to the governorship race in 1999. He mentioned an elder statesman, Chief Thomson Okorotie, among the persons who mounted pressure on him to join the race.

    He said: “PDP in this state as you all know started in 1998. Most Bayelsans were in All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and they came to me that l should lead them. I was reluctant because l was receiving good salaries then. I was receiving $7000 a month then.

    “They came to my house four times to persuade me to contest for the governor of Bayelsa State. I succumbed to their request and since then l have been directly involved in the progress of the party in the past 16 years.”

    Despite his travails, the late former governor, also known by his chieftaincy title as the Olotu, remained the most popular politician in the state. Alamco dwarfed incumbent political office holders at any public event he attended. He was always welcomed by his people with thunderous ovation. In the midst of former President Goodluck Jonathan and Dickson, people prefered to identify with and to hail Alamco. He was not just popular, he had a cult following. He was no doubt a forceful and persuasive speaker.

    In fact, everybody who paid tributes to Alamieyeseigha recalled the solid foundation he laid in the state. Elders and contemporaries of Alamieyeseigha described his death as an irreparable loss of a great patriot.

    The elders under the auspices of the Bayelsa Elders Council (BEC) and the Bayelsa Development Forum (BDF) who spoke in Yenagoa referred to Alamieyeseigha as a defender of the oppressed, the champion of resource control and the crusader of the derivation principle.

    The Publicity Secretary of BEC, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said Alamieyeseigha in his tenure as a governor laid a solid foundation for the development of the state, including establishing the only state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU).

    While condoling with the family of the deceased, the people of Amassoma and the state government, the elders said Alamieyeseigha as a bridge-builder stood for the truth.

    Also speaking, the Secretary of BEC, Chief Banton Akpuruku, said Alamieyeseigha gave them hope for a united, virile and indivisible Nigerian state and laid a foundation for examplary leadership in the state.

    Akpuruku said: “He was indeed a leader of uncommon courage who gave the Izon generally a sense of pride in the committee of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. His demise has left a huge vacuum that will be extremely difficult to fill.”

     

    Institutionalised money-sharing

    But, Alamieyeseigha was also criticised for institutionalising the culture of sharing money. The former governor was said to have doled out money to people, especially youths out of sheer desire to assist them. The gesture reportedly reduced youths to become beggars and it made them lazy; it created a societal ill that has persisted till now. Most persons in the state believe that government money must be shared and any leader who fails to pander to the sharing formula does not deserve the people’s support.

    In fact, pundits believe that despite criticisms against him, Alamieyeseigha remained a hero in his state and the Ijaw nation and unless current and incoming leaders rule Bayelsa with vision and passion for develooment, they will always take a back seat whenever Alamieyeseigha is in the picture even in death.

  • Alamieyeseigha and the nothingness of life

    Alamieyeseigha and the nothingness of life

    When the news of the passing away of the erstwhile Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha filtered in, it came abruptly as a shocking news, interrupting the peaceful flow of an apparently tranquil Saturday evening. For minutes, it remained a difficulty to get the information settled in given the fact that it wasn’t too long ago that I saw him on TV, gyrating with other Bayelsa PDP faithful, at the selection ceremony of the party’s current gubernatorial flag-bearer, Mr. Seriake Dickson. When the news finally found a place in my subconscious, several questions immediately began to fight for space in my mind. Amidst the encircling thoughts, one was principal, one that continued to hit at the emptiness of man’s mortal rat race to acquire all that he does not need, only to exit the stage like a snake that has just glided across a mountain with nothing to celebrate. Amongst these questions, the principal query was, “What is it with life that ordinary men, mere creations who came from dust will continue to misbehave, thinking they can buy the entire world, only if they steal more?”

    It cannot be gainsaid that Nigeria is where she is today, because of the night business ventures, and enterprise of the likes of Alamieyeseigha and his other comrades in the political class, who from independence have deployed every opportunity given them, to murder the sleep of an infant nation, causing her to be severely dehumanised, turning her into a rickety nation for their own pleasure, and criminally impoverishing their fellow citizens, where in turn they have caused millions of Niger-Deltans to become slaves in their country and thousands of harmless northerners to be rendered IDPs in territories that they should ordinarily call their home. These wicked men who continue to manipulate the levers of power have, and still continue to shatter the record books by embezzling billions of naira that should go into providing social amenities, stockpiling it both home and abroad through their legion of greedy businessmen allies and coterie of political contractors, building mansions on the graves of those they had murdered in their primitive accumulation of wealth, only to start running from pillar to post trying to escape the law, not knowing that even if they escape from every other thing, their wealth does not have the muscle to buy them any escape from death.

    These are men who at every nook and cranny are celebrated as the stars of the society, buying up awards from far and near, while at the same time becoming the toast of leading newspapers, who endlessly shower them with the now notorious “Man of the Year” award, even when as Lilliputians, they remain nothing but nobodies before God. To please this class of men, some have even taken the infirmity to the next level by deeming it fit to add the prefix “Golden”, to the so-called “Man of the Year”, to produce what they call, “Golden Man of the Year”, all in a generation where it has now become fashionable to find the Gold medal dangling on the neck of even pigs. These fellow inmates in the prison-yard of greed have seen no shame and destruction in why they must lend themselves as RPGs in the hand of the devil, while also continually competing amongst themselves to get first team shirt in the Football team called, “Rise & Fall FC”. These are men whose humanity died a long time ago, and whose mortality no longer has what it takes to leave any meaningful mark in the sands of time. They are the dictionary meaning of corruption and have become synonyms for the word greed and insanity. After all, anywhere one finds greed, one can be sure that insanity will only be a stone’s throw away, except that as it is the rule of life, death must inevitably emerge as the Referee to settle the quarrel between the greed of men and their insanity.

    The death of Alamieyeseigha and the peculiar mess of the Nigerian political class must move us to press those hard questions that many consistently choose not to ask, and draw those painful connections that others would rather refrain from. Assuming for a minute, that we try to delete the sad memories of Military rule from our reverie, has our experience since the so-called return to civil rule not been a case of simply transporting ourselves from the frying pan into the fire? Since 1999, nearly if not all of those who have held political office across all political parties, alongside their other accomplices in the Military, the Police, and in all other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government at the Federal, State and Local government level, have all conspired to plunder Nigeria to ruins, causing the people avoidable pain and misery.

    Thus, from Osun to Akwa Ibom, from Borno to Rivers, from Plateau to Delta, from Niger to Oyo, and from Kwara to Enugu, it has been looting unlimited and stealing incorporated. As the stealing boom grew, the country also continued in her free fall to ground zero, losing greatly in any sort of imaginative force, having been rendered the ATM of her drunk and erratic leaders who remained lost in their quest for material comfort and multiply personal amusements. The last 16 years has  been a vicious circle, where as these members of the political class, who are only just privileged to be in leadership are rewarded with one office after the other, moving from one party to the next, their greed is the more quickened while in return the remnant of their humanity is further mortified.  It became so bad, that by the beginning of 2015, the nation was already tottering dangerously on the precipice, with the Nigerian political class having become a terrible figure of reptilian fascination and of very slippery elusiveness when it comes to making personal sacrifices for the common good or advancing any sensible nationalistic idea. For these wicked ones, they would rather that the people eat from the dustbin, than they losing a penny from their multitude of fat allowances. Yet they still kept stealing tons and tons of money.

    Perhaps now we can press those hard questions and these are questions which must include the following – Why will just one person, in a strange and bizarre move, steal so much money, money running into billions of British pounds, something that ordinarily would have been enough to fund all public universities in the country to world-class standard for the next 10 years, only because she is crazy about shoes and bags? Why will that same person spend a staggering N10billion just to charter private jets in a year, when the same N10billion would have been enough to complete the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway? What did she need in life that she did not get, given her bogus salary as a Minister and other fat allowances that accrued to her office? What if Alamieyeseigha had taken a different path, the path of honour and dignity and spent the billions he looted, to develop Bayelsa and worked tirelessly towards changing the lives of his people for the better, even when he may not have had more than one house, wouldn’t he have been better celebrated both in life and in death? What if Alamieyeseigha’s loot, that was again looted by those charged with its safe-keep, had been spent on all Nigerian Teaching Hospitals, wouldn’t we have saved the hundreds of lives that keep dying every-day in our hospitals, from the simplest of ailments, and perhaps save him from the jaws of death?

    Viewed from a very critical angle, it would be seen that the Nigerian political class has proved over and over again, that they are more comfortable repeating the country’s ugly past, than rewriting it. That is why anytime any good man shows up to take radical steps aimed at repairing the country, the result of years of being a poor nation will quickly show forth, with many who are afraid of losing their ill-gotten wealth quickly masterminding different conspiracy theories from the angles of ethnicity, religion, and pure mischief, to frustrate the drive towards a better country. With the departure of Alamieyeseigha, we require a new jurisprudence that would be geared towards arresting the affliction of the political class, the kind of affliction which continually cause them to steal so much and die with it.

    • Adegbite is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.