Diepreye Solomon Peter (DSP) Alamieyeseigha, the first executive governor of Nigeria's oil rich Bayelsa state died earlier today aged 62. He was said to have taken ill two days ago which caused him to slip into a coma. This was the same man who disguised himself as a woman and slipped out of the United Kingdom to escape money laundering charges in 2005. He was impeached and removed from office soon after, and his then deputy, and immediate past president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, became governor. He later served a short jail time for the same corruption and money laundering charges in Nigeria, but was controversially granted a state pardon by Jonathan in 2013.
The British government about five or six days ago, had requested Alamieyeseigha's extradition from Nigeria to answer pending money laundering charges, and this may have exacerbated whatever chronic condition he may have been suffering from, leading to him taking ill suddenly. It may have also been the fear of being tried and found guilty like his counterpart, James Onanefe Ibori, a former governor (1999 - 2007) of another oil rich Nigerian state, Delta state, who is currently serving jail time in the United Kingdom for stealing tens of millions of dollars from the coffers of his state while he was governor.
The British government about five or six days ago, had requested Alamieyeseigha's extradition from Nigeria to answer pending money laundering charges, and this may have exacerbated whatever chronic condition he may have been suffering from, leading to him taking ill suddenly. It may have also been the fear of being tried and found guilty like his counterpart, James Onanefe Ibori, a former governor (1999 - 2007) of another oil rich Nigerian state, Delta state, who is currently serving jail time in the United Kingdom for stealing tens of millions of dollars from the coffers of his state while he was governor.
I take no delight in Alamieseigha's death, but the truth is that he, and people like James Ibori are the ones who have put Nigeria into her present comatose (pun intended) state. They have stolen billions of dollars in oil revenue meant for education, infrastructure, power, and health. The University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, where Alamieyeseigha was rushed to is in a sorry state, the very reason Nilgeria's elite and political office holders rush abroad for treatment, even for the slightest of ailments. Alamieyeseigha joins the millions of Nigerians that die needlessly in government hospitals; a direct effect of corruption. A crime he was most certainly guilty of.
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