Elder statesman, Edwin Clark, has described the death of former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, as a monumental loss to the South South region and Nigeria.
Clark said Alamieyeseigha’s death was a rude shock to him and he could not believe the news until he spoke to his widow.
The Ijaw leader, in his condolence message released on Friday, stated that there can never be another Governor-General like Alamieyeseigha in Ijaw land.
“There can never be another Governor-General like him in Ijaw Nation. Chief Alamieyeseigha was no doubt, a victim of political travail, but this is not the time to cry. His death is a monumental loss, not only to his family, but the South South and Nigeria as a whole.”
“The news of the sudden death of the Ijaw Governor- General, D.S.P. Alamiyeseigha came to me as a rude shock which I have not been able to recover from. I could not believe it until I spoke to his wife, Mrs Margaret Alamieyeseigha this morning(yesterday).
The Ijaw Nation, across all divides, has never been hit by such a heavy wind of calamity. We called him Governor- General because of his love for the Ijaw Nation and preparedness to die for it. He was very close to his people, and the place of the Ijaw people under a united Nigeria was foremost in his thoughts. His Ijawness was unsurpassed.
“The Ijaw National Congress(INC) and the Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC were the umbrellas that cover the Ijaw Nation and he saw to it, when he was Governor of Bayelsa State, that they were well nurtured, funded and that the leadership of the Organisations were at all times courageous and the patriotic men of integrity and respectability.
“Apart from those two- organisations, he regularly assembled the Ijaw leaders, irrespective of political and religious differences, together at Government House in Yenagoa, to discuss Ijaw issues within the larger Nigerian affairs, under a friendly atmosphere without any fear or intimidation from any quarters.
“This spirit, he carried to the South-South level when he hosted all the south south Delegates at Yenagoa, where he drew up our agenda based mainly on Resource Control at the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in February 2005 and thereafter visited us regularly.”
