Governor Alamieyeseigha: Resign or be impeached

Ever since Governor Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London for money laundering, Bayelsa State has remained without an active governor. The irony here is that even when he was a freeman, he spent a sizeable amount of his time outside of the state in search of lootable resources. Or stashing his ill-gotten riches.

This was a governor that should have been impeached long ago; or at the very least, recalled from his official position because of his many offences. He was not particularly effective; and neither was he a hardworking man. But his hubris was legendary. In the end, it was his greed, foolishness and superciliousness that help did him in. He looked around him and believed himself to be the alpha and the omega, the untouchable who was above the law and above God.

But unfortunately, Alamieyeseigha did not get to where he is without help and encouragement. He was helped and encouraged by the deafening silence of some Ijaw leaders who also participated in the governor’s gluttonous ways; they colluded with the governor in betraying the hope and trust of the citizens. The amount of corruption and personal aggrandizement of some of these so-called leaders is staggering. If they had behaved like leaders and elders, Alamieyeseigha wouldn’t have that smirk on his face; he wouldn’t have been beating and thumbing his chest, daring us and daring the gods.

Some Ijaw leaders were so knee-deep in stench they couldn’t and wouldn’t caution and counsel a “small boy” like Alamieyeseigha. Their actions and inactions contributed to the crisis that now threatens to engulf Ijawnation. That a fifth-rate like Alamieyeseigha became a governor is unconscionable. Any wonder “boyboy” like Timi Alaibe — who is likely to outdo the current governor in terms of corrupt practices — is hoping to someday become the governor?

By his criminal and prosecutable conducts, Alamieyeseigha has brought disrepute to Ijaw land. He has shamed us. Therefore, he must resign! He must resign or be impeached, and then be prosecuted.

This is not about the destruction of Odi, as he is alleging. This is not about resource control. This is not about siding with Atiku (against Obasanjo). This not about a man who became a pawn in the “political intrigue of OBJ.” This is not about Obasanjo versus the Ijawnation. Oh no, this is simply about a state governor who got greedy; it is about an Ijaw man who allowed his excesses and corrupt practices to cloud his judgment. This is about a man who introduced his immediate friends and family members to the low art of thievery and misappropriation. This is about high crimes and misdemeanors. And so Governor Alamieyeseigha must resign or be impeached, and then prosecuted!

His interview with the Nigerian Guardian of November 13, 2005, is nothing but a feeble and duplicitous attempt at stroking ethnic sentiments. Did President Obasanjo stuff the money found on his person in his pocket? Did Obasanjo purchase all the houses he own outside of Nigeria for him? Where did all the investment portfolios (in Alamieyeseigha’s name) come from?

You see, this is where illiteracy and stupidity takes you: “As the Chief Executive of a state with many students on welfare benefits, I always keep £110,000 in the house for statutory purposes, and I told the Police about this.” What nonsense! How much has he doled out this year or the year before to Bayelsa State students who are stuck in Russia, Ukraine or in any of those third-world countries?

One wonders how much he is hiding in his vault for the purchase of bicycles, hammers, needles, nails, and fishhooks for Bayelsa traders, farmers and fishermen.

Another stupendous statement: “an M16 officer came to me and said I should count myself extremely lucky to be alive…I was to be assassinated in Nigeria…The officer also revealed that the four-point action plan includes; linking me with Osama Bin Laden, as a terrorist…that I’m the financier of Alhaji Dokubo-Asari…if I’d mistakenly followed a British Airways flight from Nigeria, their plan was to plant drugs and explosives in my bag. And if they’d done that, I would have been in the cell and nobody would talk to me for three months.”

Oh rubbish, the talk of a drowning man! Bull! Come tomorrow or the day after, he is going to recant this yeye beer-parlor talk.

As if the aforementioned interview wasn’t irrational enough, he went on to grant the Daily Sun of November 15, 2005, another fidifidi interview. The more he opened his mouth the more stench he spews; the more he talked, the more he ropes himself in; and the more he complained, the mo

re he compounds his predicaments. This man is beginning to imagine things. Soon, he will claim that President Obasanjo and the Nigerian state are colluding to get rid of his shadow, or are about to obstruct the sun from shining or hinder the breeze from blowing towards him.

Alamieyeseigha is a disgrace to his nation and to his nation-state. He does not deserve an iota of a thinking man’s sympathy. Once he started stealing our money, once he started taking what belongs to our people to foreign banks for his and his immediate family use, all bets were off! And so he must resign or be impeached and then be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

We the Ijaws cannot afford generations of thieves. If this governor goes free, then the likes of Timi Alaibe, Steve Azaiki, Jonathan Goodluck and a host of others who are eyeing Creek Haven may follow suit. As an aside, how did Oronto Douglas — a man who spend the better part of 10-15 years cultivating his reputation — got entangles in the Alamieyeseigha’ twine and fishnet? It is sad, so sad to see him join in the feast.

Anyone who wants to shed tears for Alamieyeseigha and his band of crooks may go ahead and do so. I have a suitcase full of napkins for you all.

As for all those who are carrying placards in support of the governor, what is it you don’t understand about this man and his sins. What is it that escapes your thinking in terms of criminality and prosecutable offences? Your family members are there in the Niger Delta living in abject poverty while the governor and his family lives in palatial homes. Your kids, nieces and nephews and cousins are roaming the streets while his are away in California, Miami, London and elsewhere. Save your tears for better days; don’t cry for this man.

Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha is not an honorable man. He is not fighting our fight. He is not looking out for our interests. He is not in the mold of Isaac Boro. He may be an Ijaw; but he is not one of us. Therefore, there should be no hiding place for fools, crooks and predators and for people like him. And in fact, that he is an Ijaw should have sharpened his conscience and his sense of self. Let the courts do their jobs and let the chips fall wherever they may.

But in the meantime, Alamieyeseigha should resign or be impeached! Then prosecuted. And exiled. Bayelsa State would have been better off without such characters.