Dickson postpones governorship election campaign flag-off in honour of Alamieyeseigha

NEDU MARK, Yenagoa

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has postponed the official flag-off of his governorship re-election campaign billed for this Saturday. The governor, Tuesday, said the decision was aimed at honouring the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyesigha, the first Civilian governor of the state, who died Saturday.

The campaign flag off was originally scheduled to kick off at the Samson Siasia Sports complex, but was later called off due to the death of the Governor General of Ijaw Nation who died at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital last weekend

The Governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Markson Iworiso, noted that though the country and particularly the Ijaw nation have lost a foremost statesman and leader, the ‘state government is determined to give Chief Alamieyeseigha a befitting state burial.’

“The state government is determined to accord him a befitting state burial. In this regard, a high powered burial committee led by the Deputy Governor has been constituted. This committee will work out details of the programme with the family and other relevant stakeholders.”

Eulogizing the late former governor, Dickson said, “Chief Alamieyeseigha in his life time, 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 governor and in other capacities.

“His selfless devotion and service to Bayelsa State and the entire Ijaw nation earned him the sobriquet, Governor-General of the ijaw nation in his lifetime.”

Apart from declaring a seven-day mourning period during which all flags in public buildings and places are to fly at half mast, he said condolence registers have been opened at the Government House, the state secretariat complex, Ijaw House in Yenagoa and the state liaison offices in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt in honour of the deceased.

Dickson who ‘condemned the propaganda and orchestrated harassment that led to the untimely death of the Governor-General’, however, called on the people of the state and Ijaw nation to ‘maintain the peace, as they mourn the departed leader whom he described as a man of peace.’

“To us as a people at this trying time, this sad incident should serve to unite us and to rededicate ourselves to the ideals that he stood for.

“We acknowledge the anger, disappointment and the sense of outrage felt by our people at home and in the Diaspora, well meaning Nigerians and others around the world for the way and manner he was harassed and forced to abandon his treatment abroad.”

“This is not a time for recriminations and divisions but rather a time for sober reflections. I therefore call for all and sundry, particularly the youths to remain calm and maintain the peace as we mourn our departed leader,” Dickson said.