Embattled DSP Alamieyesiegha’s Sympathisers Begin Campaign To Quell Extradition To UK Moves

Sympathisers of former governor looking at possible extradition to the United Kingdom, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha have kick stated open campaign to protect his interest.

The full details are produced in this report

Fresh moves to extradite ex-Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, to the United Kingdom to face trial for corruption is generating serious tension in the state.

Already, many socio-political organisations have described the plan as a wrong step in the wrong direction.
DSP Alamieyesiegha

The Chairman of the Bayelsa State caucus in the National Assembly, Foster Ogola, condemned the plan in Yenagoa during a function where the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, was endorsed for a second term by several Non-Governmental Organisations and the civil society organisations.

Ogola raised posers on the rationale for the extradition notice by Britain.

According to him, the latest moves were suspicious, adding that Alamieyeseigha had gone through a legal process, prosecuted by a competent court of jurisdiction, indicted, sentenced and was granted presidential pardon.

He queried: “What is the basis of this new extradition having gone through all legal process culminating in a presidential pardon?”

Ogola, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues in the National Assembly, therefore, called for restraint on the extradition moves in the interest of justice.

Lending his voice to Ogola’s position, the Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, who also spoke at the event, condemned the extradition notice.

Dokubo-Spiff said it smacked of high level conspiracy.

He accused the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the state as the brains behind the extradition plot, which he regarded as a conscious step to destroy the Ijaw nation.

This, he said, was unfortunate and a clear injustice.

He said: “The extradition notice smacks of high level conspiracy contrived by some powerful elements in the APC government, who are out to destroy the Ijaw nation.

“They plotted against our son, Mr. President, and denied him the opportunity of returning to power, and now they are after another noble son of ours in the person of DSP Alamieyeseigha.

“This injustice will not stand.

“How many times will a man be convicted for the same offence?”

The party chairman castigated the APC leadership in the state, saying its antics suggested that it was against the Ijaw nation and the reason why the PDP has been telling the people to reject it at the polls.

Dokubo-Spiff said: “This election is not about Dickson but the collective interest of the Ijaw nation.

“From all indications, the APC is against the Ijaw nation and why our people must reject it.”

On its part, the Ijaw Youth Council reiterated its position in an earlier statement about the extradition notice, warning that the Ijaw nation will not sit idly and watch its leaders disgraced by those it referred to as “cabals’ in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The statement said the Buhari government was being selective in the fight against corruption, asking why no northerner has so far been invited to answer corruption charges or extradited.

Quoting a similar poser by the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, the IYC also asked why has Buhari not deemed it fit to prosecute those involved in the Halliburton scam.

Meanwhile, the APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, has been fingered as the brain behind the extradition notice.

A source, who made the claim, said Sylva’s close working relationship with the Secretary to the Federal Government, Babachir David Lawal, facilitated the extradition moves.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said Sylva instigated the decision to include Alamieyeseigha’s name among those whose names were listed in the letter, which Buhari took along with him on his recent trip to the United Kingdom.

According to him, President Buhari handed the list to the UK authorities as persons to be investigated and invited for questioning and prosecution.

He said a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Allison-Madueke, was top on the list alongside other cabinet members of the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

theeagleonline