Tributes, as Alamieyeseigha goes home today

Business and commercial activities in the Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital and the university town of Amasoma, the home town of the late former governor of Bayelsa state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were completely halted for several hours yesterday in honour of the former governor whose remains would be buried today.

Meanwhile, more encomiums and tributes continue to pour in for the late former governor who passed on October 16, last year, at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan said the Governor General of the Ijaw Nation, as Alamieyeseigha was popularly called, was a man who believed in the oneness of the Ijaw nation.

Jonathan, who acknowledged the political role played by the man he calls his ‘boss’ towards his emergence as President, said Alamieyeseigha left the stage when the ovation was loudest.

The former President, who spoke at the night of tribute organised by the State Government at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, Yenagoa, said Alamieyeseigha would be missed by the Ijaw nation and also the entire Niger Delta.

The state Governor, Seriake Dickson, in his tribute said the late Alamsieyeseigha supported him against all odds in the last election because of his belief in genuine governance, which he (Dickson) represents.

The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), in their remark said Alamieyeseigha was a victim of political prosecution and victimisation for fighting for true federalism.

IYC’s spokesman, Udengs Eradiri, who extolled the virtues of Alamieyeseigha, said that he was the unifying factor of the Ijaw nation in the Niger Delta and in the Diaspora.

He said: “Today is a sad one for us as the Ijaws. Even though we are putting on smiling faces in order to show last respect to our hero, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, we must not lose sight of the circumstances of his death.

“Alamieyeseigha was a victim of political persecutions and victimisation because of his struggle for resource control in the Niger Delta.”