Until we see Alamieyeseigha’s corpse, we don’t believe he’s dead – Bayelsans

A group of four, who appeared to be friends, was overheard discussing the authenticity or otherwise of Alamieyeseigha’s death as they came out of a new generation bank in Yenagoa and approached their car, and one of them argued that with the former governor’s track record, anything was possible with him. “I heard the same thing too,” one of them said. “With what we know that guy to be, anything including faking his own death is possible with him.”

“A man who jumped bail and disguised himself as a woman to escape from foreign prison, beating security in the process, will do anything to stay alive,” another one said as they entered their car and drove off.

Thereafter, BDSUNDAY did a vox pop of some Yenagoa residents to ascertain what they thought about the reported death of the former governor.

Surprisingly, out of 15 residents interviewed by BDSUNDAY, 13 said they did not believe the former governor, whose corruption case file is still with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was truly dead.

According to these residents, who said they found it difficult to accept that Alamieyeseigha was truly dead, the former governor may have faked his death to avoid prosecution, adding that Alamieyeseigha allegedly heard that President Muhammadu Buhari wanted to revoke the presidential pardon granted him by the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, to pave the way for his re-arrest by the EFCC.

Others said that since the former governor was declared dead, no one has seen his remains, with one respondent claiming that a medical student friend of his at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital where the corpse of the former governor is reportedly deposited told him that some students attempted to find the corpse but could not.

And yet for some residents, the manner in which the Seriake Dickson-led Bayelsa State government was handling the burial issue was fuelling their doubts about the death of the former governor.

According to them, the government must be hiding something by refusing to conduct Alamieyeseigha’s burial over five months since he was reported dead, coupled with the fact that no Bayelsan has been able to see the corpse of their former leader whom they still respect despite all that he did while in office.

These residents’ submission is that until the burial ceremony of the former governor is conducted and his remains made to lie in state for Bayelsans to see, they would never believe he is truly dead.

But a senior official of Bayelsa Ministry of Information, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, debunked the rumours in an interview with BDSUNDAY in Yenagoa, saying that all was ready for the former governor’s burial this April.

The official explained that the state government postponed the burial twice because Alamieyeseigha’s first son was sick when the first burial date was slated and that it was not right for the government to go ahead with the burial under such circumstance.

“We had to reschedule a second time because of the governorship election which was declared inconclusive by INEC. The state government is not just delaying the burial ceremony. The rescheduled burial of our former leader was due to events beyond our control. I have also heard the same thing. But I can assure Bayelsans that government will do the burial this month,” he said.