IJAW youths have said they will hold the governments of Nigeria and the UK responsible for the death of former Bayelsa State governor Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who passed away yesterday following a heart attack.
Yesterday afternoon, Chief Alamieyeseigha, 62, who governed the state between May 1999 and December 2005 died at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. He had been the subject of several investigations over corruption and the UK government wanted him extradited to face money laundering charges.
In September 2005, Chief Alamieyeseigha was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London who found £1m stashed in his home. Later, they found a total of £1.8m in cash and bank accounts and he was found to own real estate in London worth an alleged £10m.
Facing prosecution for corruption, Chief Alamieyeseigha jumped bail in December 2005 by disguising himself as a woman. Upon his return to Nigeria, however, Chief Alamieyeseigha was impeached on 9 December 2005 and charged to court where on July 26, 2007, he pleaded guilty to six charges and was sentenced to two years in prison.
On 12 March 2013, Chief Alamieyeseigha was pardoned by former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan but he is still wanted in the UK and extradition proceedings were being initiated. Dr Jonathan had said he would not extradite Chief Alamieyeseigha, who was his former boss and who picked him as his deputy governor.
However, following the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, the UK police were hopeful of getting Chief Alamieyeseigha extradited but he passed away before the process could begin. Fiyebi Eperetei, the president of the Ijaw Youths Development Association (Iyda) , said that with the death the former governor, the Ijaw nation had lost the soul of its struggle.
He added: “Ijaw youths will hold the government of Nigeria and the UK responsible for the death of Alamieyeseigha. It is obvious that Nigeria and the UK that plotted an extradition of the Ijaw leader that aggravated his illness and led to his sudden death. "
Fondly called DSP and the governor-general of the Ijaw nation, Chief Alamieyeseigha held sway at Creek Haven, the Bayelsa seat of power. According to family sources, the former governor, though diabetic, developed an unexplained ailment at his hometown, Amassoma, in Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State and was rushed to the teaching hospital where he was on life support machine but gave up the ghost between 4.30 and 5pm yesterday.
While some said he died of kidney related ailment, others blamed his death on cardiac arrest. Joseph Evah, the national coordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group and former publicity secretary of the Ijaw National Congress, said the Ijaw nation would never forget the former governor, particularly his commitment to the Ijaw struggle.
Mr Evah added: “He was the spirit of the Ijaw struggle and a true Ijaw man to the core. Chief Alamieyeseigha laid the foundation for the growth of Bayelsa State and he was loved by the Ijaws for his boldness and patriotism.
"We are aware that he was misled in some areas when he was our governor. Nobody is perfect and Alamco, as we fondly called him, was not exceptional but as a person, Alamieyseigha loved his people and was prepared to make any sacrifice for them."
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