Posted by By Owei Ebinyo on
I NEARLY ruptured myself with laughter when I read that the disgraced governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. DSP Alamieyeseigha, stated that his escape from London was an act of God.
I NEARLY ruptured myself with laughter when I read that the disgraced governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. DSP Alamieyeseigha, stated that his escape from London was an act of God. What the governor is telling the world in straight simple English is that the Almighty supports crime. When you add the fact that the man popularly called Alamco escaped as a woman, it means that God did a great cloning job in disguising the otherwise macho man to beat the prying eyes of the security agencies in his flight from London to Amassoma! To God be the glory, as we always say.
Like Daniel in the lions' den, Alamco was saved by God from the hands of his tormentors. In fact, the uncommon heroism of Alamco bears only comparison with Biblical figures. Joseph was sold into slavery but returned triumphant not unlike Alamco. Silas on his part escaped from his captors in the Alamco way. In short, he is so like David who with a single shot knocked off the giant Goliath!
It has never happened before that a poor church rat from the poorer nooks of the Niger Delta acquired so much money as to bedazzle good old Britain. Alamco had so much pounds sterling that made the British authorities jittery. They thought they had Alamco cornered when they arrested him for money laundering, whatever that means, gave him impossible bail conditions and thought he could never escape from such a dire captivity. The British folks did not reckon with Alamco's conjuring of God's name and the inscrutable escape that shocked the world. Trust Alamco to earn his place in the coveted Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest escape artist since the death of the immortal Houdini.
The God that beautified Alamco with an expensive tummy tuck could not have stayed idly and let the man rot away in a British jail. God had to act, and the man was mysteriously sprung from justice and transported back to Nigeria where he reigns as a veritable Lord of the Manor who has immunity against the rule of law. Everybody shout Hallelujah!
Come to think of it, anything not ordained by God cannot be successful. Alamco's stashing of millions in banks all over the world must equally be an act of God. His construction of a refinery in Ecuador is the doing of the Lord, as the Pentecostals would say. Even the stupendous wealth of his children is also a sure evidence of the presence of God in the affairs of the Alamco clan.
The icing on the cake of course is the fact that no weapon fashioned against any believer in the acts of God shall prosper; hence the lucky escape of Alamco from sure humiliation in London. The prison is not the place for any child of God like our dear Alamco who explained that the cash he had on him when British security called was actually meant for indigent Bayelsa students. God must surely be with such a man who insists on keeping government money close by for safekeeping. And there is this his godly responsibility of banking the state money abroad where it ought to be safe as opposed to Nigeria banks which can close shop anytime harsh harmattan breeze blows across the country.
There is the ready prayer: If all else fails, call on God. His fellow men failed Alamco, especially lawyers like the firebrand Gani Fawehinmi who would rather want the Bayelsa governor to be jailed instantly. Even notable commentators in the newspapers were calling for the blood of Alamco, but they all did not reckon with the reality that an act of God would manifest in which a man would turn to a woman and run away like a harassed rat.
Alamco is still partying, celebrating his escape as an act of God. My only prayer for him is that he should still stick to God for a much longer time for the days ahead are bound to be stormy. Let's all join Alamco in singing: 'He is a miracle working God..."
•Mr. Ebinyo writes from Bayelsa State