Bayelsa govt dispels rumour on Alamieyeseigha

 ….announces burial arrangements

AS family of the late former governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha announced the dates for his burial rites, people who hitherto believed the death was faked to help him evade extradition to Europe for trial on money laundering and other financial related crimes can now accept he’s truly dead.

Alamieyeseigha who died on October 10, 2015 in a private hospital in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was said to have suffered a cardiac arrest and later slipped into coma, placed on life support before he finally yielded the ghost.

A family source, however, revealed on Tuesday that the burial rites for the late Ijaw Governor-General, as he was fondly called in his days as governor, will hold between March 24 and 26.

It was gathered that Alamieyeseigha would have been buried on November 16 last year, the day he would have marked his 63 birthday, but was reportedly put off because of preparations for the state governorship election and lack of agreement between the state government and the deceased’s family.

The silence over his burial had led to speculations, especially outside the Niger Delta region, that Alamieyeseigha’s death might have been faked to stop his extradition to Britain on corruption charges.

But Major Graham Naingba (rtd), the first cousin of the deceased and Traditional Ruler of Amassoma, Alamieyeseigha’s community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, said the death was not faked.

Graham, who spoke when reporters visited his palace in Amassoma, said it was an abomination in Ogoni community, comprising Amassoma, Amatolu and Otuan, for anybody to fake his death.

Naingba noted that though the chiefs in the community were yet to see the remains of the late former governor, some members of the family were present when he died.

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He said: “Alamieyeseigha is truly dead. I have heard people who claimed that he faked his death. It is not true. In Ogboin community, we don’t fake our death.

“If anybody claims that he is dead and he eventually comes back, the person cannot live for more than three months. It is our tradition. If you fake your death, you are gone because you cannot live again.

“Even if the whole world says he is not dead, I the traditional ruler of this community will tell you that he is dead.”

The British High Commission in Nigeria had following his death debunked as mere rumour, news making the rounds that Alamieyeseigha was wanted in the UK to answer question bordering on corruption charges.