It was instructive that Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State had to add that important line in his state broadcast on the sudden demise of Chief Deipreye Alamieyeseigha that people should refrain from politicizing the tragedy.
Since the news of his death became public knowledge on Saturday, October 10, 2015, political comments from individuals, various organisations and institutions conveyed different dimensions to the larger-than-life personality of the first civilian governor of Bayelsa State. Perhaps inevitably there were comments that went against the grain such as the view that “bad politics” hurried him to the grave.
Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) also had their own differing take on the episode particularly over the purported extradition notice allegedly influenced by the latter. Thus in an environment where nearly everything gets politicized, Alamieyeseigha’s death soon literally got soaked in politics. This is why Dickson’s admonition of non-politicization of a collective grief was timely: interpreted to mean that the Bayelsa State government would not want any untoward incident precipitated by political considerations to foul the air even as he noted that the late Ijaw leader was a man of peace and, as such, the people, especially the youths, should give peace a chance in all matters concerning the death.
That his death has occasioned such political disputations is perhaps also inevitable given Alamieyeseigha’s adventures in the political terrain. Politics was simply his life. And he stood tall whether you liked his politics or not.
From his strategic roles in the birth of Bayelsa State to deep involvement in Ijaw nationalism, to being the first civilian governor of the state, who actually appointed former President Goodluck Jonathan his deputy, to being the acclaimed governor-general of the Ijaw nation and his staunch support for Dickson till this point of his re-election, the late Alamieyeseigha was a political enigma.
No wonder, Dickson said Alamieyeseigha’s death was a “personal loss”. The governor, immediately he received the news of Alamieyeseigha’s death was grief-stricken.
“As you all know, Chief Alamieyeseigha, in his life, apart from serving our nation as a military officer, also dedicated himself to passionate and committed service to Bayelsa State and the entire Ijaw nation, both as our first governor and in other capacities and laid a very solid foundation upon which all subsequent governors continued to build. He was a passionate and committed Ijaw man, an Ijaw nationalist and Nigerian at the same time”, Dickson said in his state broadcast.
To fully understand Dickson’s loss in Alamieyeseigha’s death is to correlate their politics. Far beyond what may be differences in the general notion of development and approaches, both leaders were united on one issue: pan-Ijaw consciousness and development. They were great students of history, idealistic, vocal and deep-rooted to appreciate the importance of localizing their big ideas to liberate their people from ignorance, economic and political subjugation as we have had in the sorry story of the Niger Delta where Oloibiri remains a gaping wound in the nation’s consciousness and a nagging metaphor of a wasted inheritance.
From this standpoint, therefore, Alamieyeseigha’s staunch support for Dickson’s administration, over time and campaign for his re-election, can be understood simply on conviction and the fulfillment of a people’s destiny bound together by a common will and purpose.
Cult-like following
It is the same fundamental philosophy that was responsible for Alamieyeseigha’s cult-like following across the Niger Delta where he earned the sobriquet, Governor-General of the Ijaw nation. His politics was far-rooted in the people whose abiding, fundamental interest formed the essence of his leadership. He was ever conscious of his Ijaw blood such that, in whatever he did, the Ijaw interest must be uppermost, appreciated and recognized. Of course, as a good student of our nation’s history with specific attachment to the grave injustice suffered in the Niger Delta over the years, Alamieyeseigha’s sense of logic and the Ijaw affirmation in his politics becomes a study in politics of realism. After all, it is said that all politics is local.
It was the great nationalist, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who famously said that he had to first be a good Yoruba man to be a good Nigerian. This is not to glorify ethnicity but to draw our attention to the need for us to establish such a strong filial bond with our immediate people, appreciating their stories and stru
No comments:
Post a Comment