- His unfulfilled dreams, by community leader
- Why kinsmen won’t forget ex-Bayelsa governor
The proverbial forest of the Ijaw, an ethnic group that prides itself as the third most populous in the country, was shaken on October 10. The roots of an Iroko tree in the forest gave way, causing it to fall with a deafening sound. A tremor thus shook the earth as the huge Iroko crumbled and left behind a massive space that may take a long while to fill.
The sudden death of former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, no doubt constitutes the fall of the Ijaw Iroko. Irrespective of what views outsiders might hold about him, in the eyes of every Ijaw man, Alamieyeseigha distinguished himself as a governor, community leader, father, fighter and dogged believer in the course of the Ijaw nation. He was a champion of resource control, an advocate of true fiscal federalism and a messiah of sort.
It was not for nothing that Alamieyeseigha was given the Olotu, perhaps the highest chieftaincy title in Ijawland. Prior to his death, the people addressed him as the Governor-General of Ijaw Nation. He was like the governor of governors in the Niger Delta region while he held sway as the first executive governor of Bayelsa State, the only homogeneous Ijaw state in Nigeria.
Prior to his death, Alamieyeseigha remained the most popular and influential politician in Bayelsa. Not even the incumbent governor measured up to his popularity. He was the toast of the masses at every public gathering. His voice was like thunder and with strength he rendered his oration to attract public enchantment.
His death
The news of his death started like a rumour on that dark Friday. It filtered into the state and in no time left the realm of fiction to become real. Yet, most Ijaw people did not believe that Alamieyeseigha was no more. Barrages of text messages and phone calls of people making inquiries about his death left telecommunication networks jammed. The social media was in a frenzy. And when the story of his death was finally confirmed, gloom descended on the state and the entire Ijaw Nation.
The founder of Bayelsa development was gone. He died of health complications arising from hypertension and kidney failure. He breathed his last at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). His wife, Margaret, was at his bedside when the hospital removed a life support that had sustained the former governor for more than three days.
Yenagoa, the state capital, for instance, was calm. People were seen in various groups discussing the development. What could have killed the Ijaw enigma? Then came the controversy. Some people believed that Alamieyeseigha developed health complications after learning about his extradition request by Britain. The British Government reportedly wrote to Nigeria demanding the extradition of Alamieyeseigha to the UK to answer to corruption charges.
Alamieyeseigha was said to have learnt of the development when he travelled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for medical treatment. The former governor, out of fear, reportedly abandoned his treatment and returned to his hometown in Amassoma, Southern Ijaw, where he felt safe. Some people believe that Alamieyeseigha’s fears were genuine. They recalled that it was Dubai where the former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, was arrested and taken to the UK for trial and conviction.
But Alamieyeseigha’s return to Amassoma midway to his medical trip proved fatal. When he developed complications, there was no hospital in the oil-rich state to attend to him. Even the UPTH where he was eventually rushed to could not handle his case. He passed on.
Yet, another school believes that Alamieyeseigha’s death was natural and had nothing to do with fear of extradition. This school argued that the former governor had a prolonged battle with his health and could have died even if he had remained in Dubai.
Amassoma where Alamieyeseigha was a ‘god’
Alamieyeseigha was like a god in his Amassoma community. The people of Amassoma will forever feel indebted to the former governor. He wore many caps as a king, compound chief, community leader, provider and benefactor. The people were loyal to him and never faulted his decisions.
Alamieyeseigha, no doubt, earned his respect. Nobody had shown deeper love for his community than he did. Prior to his coming to power as a governor, what is now known as Amassoma was a body of water. Only a pathway led to the heart of the community where few mud houses existed from the Amassoma jetty.
In fact, there was no road from Yenagoa to Amassoma. It could only be accessed by water after about an hour journey on speedboat. But Alamieyeseigha as a governor constructed a road from Tombia to Amassoma, which included the construction of the longest bridge in the state. He built and equipped a general hospital for his people. To open up the community, the former governor sited the Niger Delta University (NDU), the first and only state university, on Wilberforce Island.
A pioneer employee of the university, who identified himself simply as Johnbull, said the singular decision to build the university brought unexpected development to Amassoma.
He said: “Where we call NDU today was a body of water. Not just the NDU but many other parts of Amassoma. But Alamieyeseigha embarked on a massive sand-filling project for reclamation. He reclaimed a vast land from water to enable people build houses. He also built the university to a standard.
“The former governor ensured that over 2000 non-academic staff and casual workers were employed from the community. It was like giving each household a permanent means of livelihood.
“The women of the community will remain grateful to Alamieyeseigha because most of them started experiencing modern lifestyle through their earnings from the university.
“Most contracts in the university are done by indigenes of Amassoma. Alamieyeseigha properly funded the university as a governor. As far back as then, we used to have N10 million monthly imprest and it was regular. The death of Alamieyeseigha is a great loss that the community will never recover from.”
In fact, the community has been moody since the Ijaw Iroko fell. They have already started missing him. Shops and other business premises in the community were closed from morning till afternoon in honour of a man the residents described as their hero.
Early in the morning, women, men and youths embarked on a procession round the community, crying and weeping over their loss. They were all dressed in black. Women from the community cried inconsolably with many of them saying that the vacuum left in the community by the late former governor would not be filled in many decades to come.
All business activities including transportation in the community were halted as members of the vigilante, led by one David, went round to ensure that residents complied with the directive. Some members of staff from NDU also joined in the procession. Students who had examination in the morning trekked to the campus because no commercial vehicles were allowed to operate within the restricted period.
The university was said to have adjusted its timetable to fit into the mourning programme of the community. Some examinations scheduled for morning were moved to afternoon. A student who identified herself as Pere, spotting a black t-shirt, said she decided to wear it in honour of Alamieyeseigha.
“Without him, there wouldn’t have been a university here. l in particular miss him,” she said.
Another undergraduate student, Anita, said: “I trekked to school today because of the procession. There was no vehicle because the community announced that all businesses should be shut down in honour of Alamieyeseigha who developed the community and founded the university.”
Chief Sharp Sogo, who claims to be the acting Paramount Ruler of the community, said they were shocked by the death of a man he said was like a god to them.
He said: “When the sad news filtered into this community, nobody was happy. Boys, girls, men and women cried. He was one of the best leaders we had in this community. He was just like a father and grandfather to everybody.”
He said Alamieyeseigha had his last outing in the community when he came home with his political associates and community leaders to restrategise for the December 5 governorship election. He said the late former governor was a rallying point and a voice of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which relied on him to win the election.
He said: “We can’t count the values he added to this community. They are too numerous to mention. Without him, there couldn’t have been Amassoma. He brought the university and constructed all the roads. Everybody took him like a god.”
He said Alamieyeseigha died without fulfilling some of the promises he made to the community.
“It was obvious he was not through with the community yet. He promised that a shore protection project would be completed and many other things would be done to further develop Amassoma. We will greatly miss him”, he said.
Sogo said community leaders would soon assemble to plan a befitting burial for Alamieyeseigha, adding that the community would work with the state government.
Also, Major Graham Naingba (rtd), first cousin to Alamieyeseigha, yesterday said they would forever remain grateful to the departed Ijaw leader.
Naigba, who is the certified Traditional Ruler of Amassoma, said Alamieyeseigha would remain a phenomenon not only in the community but also in the entire Ijaw Nation. Speaking before members of his Council of Chiefs, Naingba said the late Ijaw icon single-handedly transformed his community into a town.
He said he cried overnight when he received the news of the sudden death of Alamieyeseigha, adding that members of his council were yet to come to terms with the fact that their leader was no more.
He said: “l and members of my council felt very bad. Since then, we have been mourning him. This is one person who has developed this community in particular and the whole of Bayelsa State.
“He was the person who brought the Niger Delta University (NDU) to our community. He gave us roads and light and a whole lot, so we can never forget him. He has been a very prominent man. So we are all mourning him.
“You will see that the women from the community are in mourning moods. Alamieyeseigha made it possible for everyone to gain employment in this community. They are all working and that has been helping them. So we are all mourning.”
He said his late relation was fond of visiting him each time he came to the community, adding that he had his last moment with Alamieyeseigha a week before his death. He said in their last discussion, the late Alamieyeseigha implored him to look after the community.
“He was full of life when he visited me. I didn’t know he was going to die at this period. This is one man we will never forget,” he said.
Also, the Secretary of the Council, Chief Samuel Kisikpi, said Alamieyeseigha made some unfulfilled promises before death took him. He said the late leader, at a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had promised that the government through his influence would rehabilitate the road leading from NDU to the waterside.
“Well, he made us many promises. He even promised to build a road for us; that is the road leading from NDU to the waterside. The road is very bad. He wanted to do it before his father died. Unfortunately, it didn’t come about that time. But now he promised us that he was going to complete the road. Unfortunately, he died.
“He made the promise a week before his death at a PDP meeting. He gathered everybody and both of us were there at the meeting. He promised that by the grace of God, he was going to do the road.
“And by the grace of God any other person either Seriake Dickson or anybody can do the road for us because of Chief Alamieyeseigha. Chief had worked for the community. He had worked for Bayelsa State and also worked for the Federal Government. Everybody is sad over his death.”
Torrents of tributes for departed Ijaw leader
Like a cascade of waterfalls, the tributes and condolence messages for Alamieyeseigha and his deceased family poured in. They have not stopped coming. The deceased’s wife had received uncountable number of visitors at their Port Harcourt home before she relocated to their palatial house in Yenagoa.
Perhaps, the first message came from the governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who described the death of Alamieyeseigha as a personal loss to him. The governor later made a live broadcast in the state in honour of Alamieyeseigha.
Dickson, in his broadcast, confirmed that Alamieyeseigha abandoned his foreign medical trip midway. The governor, in an emotional voice, said the former governor was a victim of orchestrated harassment. He warned against politicising the death of Alamieyeseigha, saying that the incident should unite instead of divide the Ijaw Nation.
He said: “We acknowledge the anger, the genuine sense of anger and disappointment and the sense of outrage held by our people at home and in the Diaspora and all well meaning Nigerians and lovers of justice around the world for the way and manner our leader was harassed, pounded and forced to abandon his treatment abroad.
“We condemn in very strong terms the propaganda and the orchestrated harassment that led to his untimely death. However, it is our plea that this is not a time for recrimination and division.
“This is rather a time for unity and for sober reflection. I therefore call on all and sundry, particularly the youths of this state and of the Niger Deltans and of the Ijaw Nation to remain calm and maintain the peace as we all unite and grieve to mourn our departed leader.
“I advise that we refrain from politicising our collective tragedy. This is a collective tragedy and we should not politicise it. I advise that we join hands with the family to mourn with them and grieve with them and grieve with one another and work with the family and the government to ensure that we give him what he rightly deserves: a befitting state funeral.”
Dickson also announced the postponement of the official inauguration of his governorship campaign in honour of Alamieyeseigha. He noted that the country, particularly the Ijaw Nation, had lost a foremost statesman and leader, adding that the state government was determined to give Alamieyeseigha a befitting state burial.
He said: “The state government is determined to accord him a befitting state burial. In this regard, a high powered burial committee, led by the Deputy Governor, has been constituted. This committee will work out details of the programme with the family and other relevant stakeholders.”
He said Alamieyeseigha served the nation as a military officer and dedicated himself to passionate and committed service to Bayelsa and the entire Ijaw Nation, both as governor and in other capacities.
“His selfless devotion and service to Bayelsa State and the entire Ijaw Nation earned him the sobriquet Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation in his lifetime,” he said.
He said condolence registers had been opened at the Government House, the state secretariat complex, Ijaw House in Yenagoa and the state liaison offices in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt in honour of the deceased.
He said: “Alamieyeseigha served our people with dedication and selflessness and that earned him the sobriquet the Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation in his lifetime. Since my assumption of duty as a governor, Chief Alamieyeseigha has been a pillar of support and encouragement and advice.
“He was a ready and dependable guide, supporter and leader who availed at my disposal his time, his experience to motivate me and to encourage me in the course of my service. In all of this, his motivation was what was in the best interest of our people.
“In all of these, he showed uncommon dedication and commitment to the service of our people. He showed firm and clear-headed leadership when it mattered most and he did this to the very end.
“With his passing, our nation has lost a great servant and bridge builder. Our state and Ijaw Nation has lost a foremost statesman and a leader par excellence of this generation. Our government has lost a major pillar of support and encouragement and I have lost at a personal level a great leader and guide and father.
“I have suffered a personal and monumental loss at his death. Chief Alamieyeseigha in his lifetime was a good man and he touched a lot of lives. He was amiable, generous and kind, and all those who knew him can attest to this. All those who knew him and interacted with him have also suffered a personal loss as I have done.”
Also, former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, said that she and her husband were in shock over the sudden death of Alamieyeseigha. Mrs. Jonathan spoke when she paid a surprise visit to the family home of Alamieyeseigha in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The ex-first lady arrived the home of Alamieyeseighas at about 2 pm and sat with other sympathisers to commiserate with the wife of the deceased till about 5 pm. She also signed the condolence register.
She reportedly wrote: “Daddy, on behalf of my husband, former President Goodluck Jonathan and the entire family members, we mourn you so dearly. We are in shock and our hearts are full of pains. Though we cannot question God, we are saying goodbye. May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.”
Her husband, former President Jonathan, later came on a condolence visit at the Yenagoa home of the deceased. Jonathan almost broke into tears. He said he remained indebted to Alamieyeseigha, noting that without the former governor, nobody would have known him.
Lamenting the sudden demise of Alamieyeseigha, he said he had lost an elder brother. Jonathan said his relationship with Alamieyeseigha was not that of a governor and a deputy governor but that of an elder brother and a younger one.
He said: “It is sad. I directly worked as a deputy governor to Alamieyeseigha. I knew Alamieyeseigha during the UNCP days when we were working for him. I never knew I was going to be his deputy because that was not my interest then. From that time, the political evolution in the country and the state brought me to work with him.
“And from 1999, we have been together. He always took me as his younger brother. Our relationship was not that of a governor and a deputy but that of a younger brother and elder brother.”
He recalled that Alamieyeseigha made him to begin to celebrate his birthdays as he never did so until about three years into their first tenure in the state. According to him, Alamieyeseigha’s demise was a rude shock not only to his immediate family but to Bayelsans and the Ijaw Nation.
Former members of the House of Representatives, Dr. Stella Dorgu and Mr. Warman Ogoriba, lamented the death, saying the Ijaw Nation would forever miss Alamieyeseigha. Ogoriba, a two-time member of the National Assembly, said Alamieyeseigha was a leader to all Ijaw men, adding that his leadership cut across political lines.
Also, elders and contemporaries of Alamieyeseigha decried the sudden death of the Ijaw icon, describing it 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) referred to Alamieyeseigha as a defender of the oppressed, the champion of resource control and the crusader of the derivation principle.
The Publicity Secretary, BEC, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said Alamieyeseigha in his tenure as a governor, laid a solid foundation for the development of the state, including the establishing the only state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU).
Even heads of security outfits in the state visited the family members of Alamieyeseigha to condole with them. The security commanders visited the Opolo house of Alamieyeseigha in Yenagoa, the state capital, where they commiserated with the deceased’s family members.
The Commander, Operation Pulo Shield (OPS), Maj. Gen. Alani Okunola, led the delegation that visited Alamieyeseigha’s home on Tuesday. The state Controller, Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Nmeabe Legbosi; the Commander, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Desmond Agu and the Commissioner of Police, Paul Okafor, were part of the delegation.
In fact, everybody condoled with the bereaved family and spoke glowingly of the deceased. But all tongues in Ijawland were silent on Alamieyeseigha’s ugly encounter with the law, especially his bid to amass wealth which led to his prosecution and conviction on corruption charges.
But Alamieyeseigha is no more.
Already, Dickson has set up a committee for his burial plans. The Amassoma community said the burial rites of Alamieyeseigha would start on November 15. Is he going to be buried at the Heroes’ Park, a special cemetery founded by Dickson for the interment of fallen Ijaw heroes?
Or is he going to be interred in a tomb which Alamieyeseigha was said to have built for himself in his Yenagoa house before his death? There is no doubt that government institutions and edifices will be named after the late Ijaw hero to immortalise him, among which may be NDU, the university he founded.
