It’s a classic case
of birds of a feather flocking together.
From a UK jail, where he is doing time for corruption, came
birthday greetings from former Delta State governor, James Ibori to disgraced
ex-governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
Alamieyeseigha, who
was governor in Bayelsa from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2005, and was convicted
for corruption, clock 60 years today.
In a congratulory advertorial he took out in the Vanguard
edition of today 16 November, Ibori showered effusive praises on
Alamieyeseigha, who he described as the “Governor-General of The Ijaw Nation”.
In the birthday message signed by him, Ibori wrote: “My brother,
please accept my hearty congratulations to you as you turn 60 today
“I join your numerous well-wishers to thank the good God who has
kept you alive despite the vicissitudes of life – the lies and ill-treatment –
that came your way just because of crass debilitating politics,” wrote Ibori.
The subdued former Delta strongman continued his adoration of Alamieyeseigha:
“Yet, I know that you will take solace in the fact that the people of the Ijaw
nation, whose cause you championed ever so lustily, have never forgotten what
you stood for and the dangers you embraced while fighting for their higher good
and fiscal federalism for Nigeria.”
Ibori added: “One day the right questions will be asked, the
right answers buried deep in heaps of lies will be unhearted and Nigeria’s
contemporary history, in which you starred, will be better appreciated and
events put in their true perspective.”
Ibori is currently serving a concurrent 13-year jail term in a
UK jail, after his conviction by a Southwark Crown Court, on 17 April this
year, for money laundering offences.
The celebrant, Alamieyeseigha, also earlier bagged prison
sentences, after admitting to pilfering his state’s funds. His predicament
began in September 2005, when he was detained in London on charges of money
laundering.
When the London Metropolitan Police searched his London home,
they found about £1m in cash. A further search by the Met yielded a total of
£1.8m in cash and bank accounts.
Alamieyeseigha, who was also found to own an estimated £10m
worth of real estate in London, later jumped bail in the UK in December 2005,
by allegedly disguising himself as a woman, though he later denied the claim.
But the ex-governor of Bayelsa was eventually jailed in Nigeria
on 26 July, 2007, after he pleaded guilty to six counts of corruption, in a
plea-bargaining deal.
He was sentenced to two years in prison on each count, but,
because the sentences were to run concurrently, and the almost two years he
earlier spent in detention while standing trial were deducted, Alamieyeseigha
walked out of prison a free man a day after his conviction.
The ex-convict’s assets, including four luxury UK properties,
one of them which he bought for about £1.7m cash in one day, were ordered to be
forfeited to the Bayelsa State government.
Also on 28 June this year, the United States Department of
Justice executed an asset forfeiture order on the sum of $401,931 in a
Massachusetts brokerage fund, traceable to Alamieyeseigha.
Alams, as he is otherwise known, is now back in the scheme of
things, hobnobbing with Presidency top shots, especially President Goodluck
Jonathan his kinsman and former deputy while he was governor, who is believed
to have rehabilitated him
Source: PMNews
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