Chief James Onanefe Ibori has said that the news of the death of Chief DSP Alamieyesiegha hit him like a sledge hammer. He said that though the man had been ailing for a long time, hunted here and there by forces motivated by crass politics and personal vendetta, the man had looked as if he would be able to rise above the persecution and allow peace to pervade his life.
Ibori, former Delta State Governor, in a statement signed by Tony Eluemunor, his Media Assistant, on Saturday, said Chief Alamieyesiegha went the way of all mortals.
Ibori said: “Alamieyesiegha was my friend, brother, and co-fighter on the Resource Control and fiscal federalism front. We were not just colleagues in the Governors Forum from 1999, in the man I found a boundless and dependable warrior in the battle for the cause of the Niger Delta.
He was fearless, forthright, outspoken and dedicated his life to the causes he believed would benefit his people. In fact, he was consumed by the cause of the Ijaw people, the degradation of their environment and collective psyche. He was in a hurry to see that the injustice under which they labored be redressed; and he was ready to bear any pain, pay any price, to see that their day of liberation arrived fast.
The statement also said that Alamieyesiegha became the victim of great hypocrisy masquerading as nationalism and anti-corruption fight. and that Alamieyesigha was lied against, as heaps upon heaps of untruths were piled on him, and national hysteria replaced public discourse whenever the subject was Alamieyesiegha.
Otherwise respected newspapers made up stories about how he returned from London. Though the man told his own story that he was put on an aircraft and taken out from London to the Ivory Coast, his story was never investigated to even find out if he was lying.
It was unconscionable journalism. He was plotted against by those who swore they were fighting on the side of good even though they had taken high seats in the devil’s court.
How many people would believe that Alamieyesiegha had only one house? And that is in his village, Amassoma!
Rest in peace great Ijaw leader. Rese in peace, the Governor General of the Ijaw nation. May God grant your family and the Ijaw people the grace to bear this monumental loss. One day, no matter how long the delay, Alamieyesigha’s real story would be told, the truth about him would be unearthed and the world would know the kind of virulent politics he was victim of.
