Alamieyeseigha Meant Well For Ijaw And South South – Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan today bemoaned the sudden death of the first civilian governor of Bayelsa state and his former boss, Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, who he called an elder brother.

According to Jonathan who was Alamieyeseigha’s deputy between 1999 and 2005, their relationship was not that of a governor and a deputy governor but that of an elder brother and a younger brother.

Jonathan who spoke in an emotion-laden voice when he paid a condolence visit to the Alamieyeseigha family at their residence in Opolo, Yenagoa, earlier today stated that his relationship with Alamieyeseigha preceded 1999.

His words: “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 it was that of a younger brother and an elder brother.”

Jonathan was accompanied on the visit by Governor Seriake Dickson, his deputy, John Jonah, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Edmund Allison-Oguru and other officials of Bayelsa state government

Alamieyeseigha’s widow, Margaret, broke down in tears and wept uncontrollably as Jonathan walked into the cosy sitting room in the palatial residence with those on his entourage.

Jonathan, who admitted that “it was only God that stopped tears from rolling down my cheek” when he saw her wailing, said he considers the Alamieyeseigha as his family.

The ex-president noted that without the Alamieyeseigha family, nobody would have known him in the world. He stated that Alamieyeseigha’s demise was a rude shock not only to his immediate family but to Bayelsans and the Ijaw nation. He eulogized Alamieyeseigha, stressing that he was a courageous man who had a good heart for Bayelsa, Ijaw land and the South South region.

“Alamieyeseigha meant well for Bayelsa. He stood very firmly for the Ijaw people. Alamieyeseigha wanted to advance the South South. He is somebody we had collective love for”, he said. He encouraged Mrs. Alamieyeseigha, members of the nucleus family and his admirers not to cry anymore because God was in control.