Posted by Tonye David-West, Jr., Ph.D on
Whatever title the embattled Bayelsa governor has decided to adopt, Mr., Mrs., or Madam, if you will, it should be clear to all that his initials, DSP, ought to stand for "Dumb Stupid Politician", for that is exactly what he is in light of recent revelations.
Whatever title the embattled Bayelsa governor has decided to adopt, Mr., Mrs., or Madam, if you will, it should be clear to all that his initials, DSP, ought to stand for "Dumb Stupid Politician", for that is exactly what he is in light of recent revelations. The difficulty encountered by many in pronouncing his last name, Alamieyeseigha, "Allah-May-See-Ya", with the "g" being silent, is certainly dwarfed by the difficult terrain on which he has landed. True to his nature, like the biblical thief, he sneaked into Bayelsa in the middle of the night to reclaim his seat, thus, becoming a fugitive and a wanted man in the United Kingdom. The import of this is clear even to the casual observer; he would be arrested anytime he steps foot on UK soil. Additionally, the British will seek an international arrest warrant against him via INTERPOL in the event he steps out of Nigeria.
Needless to say that these events are nauseating, disheartening and spell further doom for a nation struggling to shed its cloak of contumely. This uncouth behavior of a sitting governor portrays the human frailties and moral failings of a nation, but more importantly, it brings to fore the nation's security deficiencies and the flagrant and scandalous criminality of those who call themselves Nigerian leaders. The circumstances surrounding his Houdini-like disappearance from London and his miraculous resurfacing in Bayelsa are indeed a shameful unmasking of Nigeria's pervasive culture of moral atrophy and audacious corruption.
The governor's alleged crime of money laundering is surpassed by his recent illegality of bail jumping. Simply put, the man the people of Bayelsa call "Alamco" is a fugitive from the law. He is a wanted man who will be sent directly to prison once apprehended by the British authorities. This 'dumb stupid politician' has just added another weave to his tangled web with his fictitious and beguiled perception that such illegality was a prelude to his manumission that would set him on the path to the blissful kingdom of Eldorado.
For all intensive purposes, the governor is finished even in a country not known for its high moral stock. All that is left now is for him to prepare mentally and physically for the torrent that awaits. The governor has found himself in a horrendous situation with two powerful governments after him - it is safe to conclude that at the end of the day, Kirikiri Maximum Prison will be his lot (after conviction in London) and that will be just fine given that his malefactor has brought nothing but opprobrium to a nation already dealing with a smeared reputation. His behavior provides abundant evidence of guilt. Does he have any sense of moral rectitude and virtuousness?
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With the loud proclamation of innocence, the governor seemed to be in a hurry to leave the United Kingdom. An opportunity came to clear his name in a country where he was guaranteed a fair trial and the best he could do was to jump bail. The prospect of "His Excellency" resorting to fraudulent means, including forging traveling documents and dressing like an old, ugly whore to secure freedom is a damning one. Even area boys have better class, self-respect and sense of responsibility.
If he believes in his innocence, it would have been prudent to remain in London to clear his name? His criminal actions betray his high office and belie the dearth of principled leadership in Nigeria. Monday, November 21, 2005, the day the fugitive arrived in Bayelsa, will be remembered as the day the nation died a moral death. Compounding the nation's moral woes are the tumultuous celebrations on the streets to welcome the governor-general turned cosmetic-general, an accused money launderer (a great euphemism for a rogue, thief, if you will), a man by day and an ugly, loathsome and repulsive whore-like cross-dresser at night. Indeed, an affront on basic human decency.
As the news broke of his return and the manner in which it was facilitated, I received a rather interesting and long text message on my mobile phone from a colleague at University of Port-Harcourt. It reads, "The cat is out of the bag and the humiliation of Nigeria before the world is complete. Bayelsans have every right to question their governor's sexuality. Is he gay, a homosexual in the closet or simply a drag queen who enjoys wearing women panties, bra, and the accompanying accessories? He went to Germany to reduce a protruding stomach through a tummy tuck - what next, a breast and lips enlargement or a facial? I wonder who wears the trousers (pants) in the Alamieyeseigha's household?"
These are pertinent questions only the cosmetic specialist in Yenagoa can answer. But it's a disgraceful indictment of the failure of leadership in Nigeria and the personalization of politics in the polity. Alamieyeseigha has stated that his travails are caused by Abuja because of his support for Atiku, his stance for resource control and his opposition to the president's third term bid. In fairness, the governor may have a point, the man in Abuja has vendetta all over his veins, but these hardly constitute sufficient reasons to loot the treasury of his state to acquire illegal wealth.
The governor in his vacuous statewide broadcast (which made no mentions of his stolen funds and ill-gotten mansions) indicated he was persecuted because of his people and his stance on resource control. Would that be the same people whose monies he siphoned to foreign banks? Would that be the same people who do not have electricity, running water and paved roads in the six years he has been in power? How many of those people would share his mansions in London, the US and elsewhere? It is laughable indeed. His troubles may have been exacerbated by Abuja, but the fact remains that if he had been a responsible leader and had not stolen from the people, the London Metro Police wouldn't have had cause to effect his arrest and the powers that be wouldn't have had a case against him. If Abuja had a gun pointed at him, he certainly provided the bullet that dealt the fatal blow.
A salient issue often ignored is the voracity with which God is mentioned in every trouble that befalls a Nigerian politician. They have found a way to rationalize and justify every criminality and interweave it with the blessed name of the Almighty God who is always lauded even in the face of infirmity and solecism. In 2003, before Obasanjo declared his intent to run for a second term, he told a curious nation that he was waiting on God to speak to him. What has God got to do with politics? If the Almighty were ever interested in Nigerian politics, it would not be as vile and abhorrent as it is. Even though Obasanjo knew that he would run for a second term, he clouded his decision in divine mystery and later cast the blame on God for the delay in intimating to him His decision.
Recently, convicted felon, Tafa Balogun, former IG of Police, stated that he was leaving his troubles in the hands of God. Which God, if I may ask? Did God cause his troubles? If not, why dump them in His hands? When he was enjoying the loot, he left nothing in the hands of God, he enjoyed them alone; but when troubles came his way, he was quick to leave them on the clean and holy hands of the heavenly Father. It seems God did well and shoved them back into his hands and he is now headed for Kirikiri prison.
Alamieyeseigha, being a good understudy of the president and the IG is towing the same path. His movie-script great escape is been tagged as "An act of God." When he arrived at Government House, it was reported that he knelt down and prayed, presumably, to the same God who stipulated in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shall not steal?" Alamieyeseigha showed amazing piety and devotion in spite of a preponderance of the evidence (at least in the court of public opinion) confirming his guilt. His loquacious commissioner for information, Oronto Douglas, stated in the Daily Independent News Online (November 22, 2005) "We woke up this morning and he was here... He said that God brought him here." Alamieyeseigha himself said in his speech, "Let me tell you this, apart from the God we serve, I want to tell you my dear brothers and sisters that I do not know how I got to Bayelsa state. We give God the glory." Indeed, the governor has a million pound reasons to serve and give glory to God. Anyone who is able to gulp up expensive properties in the millions of dollars in foreign countries on a less than $1,000 a month salary ought to praise and give God the glory for the miracle of turning $1,000 into millions of dollars.
But the question remains unanswered - how did God bring him to Yenagoa? Alamieyeseigha should tell the world the role God played in his great escape. Was he swallowed by a fish in London like the biblical Jonah and vomited on the shores of Amassoma, his ancestral home? Or was God a party to the massive fraud and deception employed to perfect his escape? Did He purchase the wrapper, buba and headgear from Harrods Department Store with divine dollars? Did he fax the forged travel documents from heaven? Did God carry him on his unflappable wings across the Ocean to Cameroon and then by speedboat to Amassoma and finally to Yenagoa? Alamieyeseigha owes both the British authorities and Nigerians an explanation on how God was able to pull such a feat to deserve all the praise and glory being showered on Him.
In his statewide broadcast, the governor even quoted the Bible, he stated "…and I am back here in one piece because God took an interest in the matter, and God will continue to intervene in this case until His will is perfected. The bible tells us in the book of Romans 8:28 that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.' " In that will, God being just and fair, would want the governor to return to London to face charges of money laundering and clear his name. Still in that will, God will want the governor to use the peoples' money to benefit the people and not his family and close associates. As quoted correctly by the governor "…all things work together for good", but it seems up until now, only the governor and his family have been enjoying the "good", not the people he was elected to serve.
In explaining why the governor opted for the surgical intervention, his acting press secretary stated that "Let those who laugh at other's calamity remember God." But when it came time for his boss to remember God, he failed to do so as he pillaged the state treasury with seeming impunity. He failed to remember God when he traveled frequently outside Nigeria to hide his ill-gotten wealth. He failed to remember God and his people when he lodged billions of naira in private accounts and bought mansions in London, US and elsewhere. Did the governor remember God when he adorned female cloths complete with lipsticks and panty hose in his James Bond style escape?
The Charlatans and Pharisees that are Nigerian leaders often display piety and their feigned Christianity after they have transgressed God's own commandments. It's mind-bungling for a known fugitive, a cross-dresser, a document forger and an accused thief to apportion credit to God for fleeing justice deliberated upon by a duly constituted court of law. God does not preside over lawlessness, certainly not; He is a God of justice and cannot be party to this macabre dance of shame, filth and rot. In his speech, the governor accused those demonstrating against him of giving the state a bad name. He further stated, "I have not resigned and until I see good reason to do so, I remain the chief executive of Bayelsa State." Is the governor looking for a good reason to resign? Where can one begin with the good reasons? As for the bad name, that ought to be the quip of the year.
The James Bond bravado displayed by Alamieyeseigha also brings to fore pertinent issues of border (in)security. Nigerians have cause to be perturbed on the porous state of their international borders. It is worrisome that an ugly "woman" was not questioned and apprehended as "she" made her way into the country with forged documents, except of course, she dipped into the famous Bank of the Breast and bribed the border control officers. This means anyone with access to forged documents could walk across Nigeria's borders undetected and wreck havoc on the Nigerian state. In these times of terrorism and uncertainty the security apparatus cannot take the security of the nation for granted. Alamieyeseigha's unceremonious return has exposed the official ineptitude of the Nigerian Immigration Service and once again served as a grim reminder of the precarious state the Nigerian nation is in.
The implications of Alamieyeseigha's criminality are enormous and far-reaching. They have caused an irreparable damage to the Nigerian state and have rubbished all of the public relations gains the nation has made in the last six years. This obloquy undertaking taints Nigerians in the UK and elsewhere, making it difficult to walk the streets of London claiming to be a Nigerian. Nigerians should never complain again if they are denied visas at Western embassies. They should not complain if they are denied bail in the UK for minor offenses such as traffic violation. They should not be angry if they are stereotyped because of the actions of their leaders. If an elected governor, "His Excellency" could turn to "Her Excellency" and be so un-excellent by forging documents, acquiring women's clothing to perfect his dubious scheme, jump bail and abscond like a common criminal to avoid prosecution, the common Nigerian, it can be argued, would behave in a worst manner.
In all, let us remember that this man still has supporters and this represents the sad irony of it all. Those supporters must be amoral beings, concupiscent and libidinous as they are. They must be devoid of all sense of lucidity and deserve the same fate that awaits their master. They are part of the Nigerian logjam with their idol worship and selfish disposition. They are the bane of the nation's problems, the nucleus of its retardation and political/economic stagnation. Such behavior should not be encouraged in anyway shape or form. Leaders who have fallen short of their responsibilities should be made to answer for their stewardship not praised and adorned as thin gods as witnessed in the celebration of shame and repugnance.
The verdict; Alamco must go!