James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of Delta state, says Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, ex-governor of Bayelsa state, who died on Saturday, built just one house and was never corrupt.

Many allegations of corruption were levelled against the deceased.

In September 2005, the UK’s metropolitan police detained Alamieyeseigha after finding about £1 million cash on him, and another £1.8 million in cash and accounts.

He was subsequently charged with money laundering but he jumped bail and returned to the country.

However Ibori, who is serving jail sentence in the United Kingdom, after being convicted for corruption and money laundering, said his former colleague was a “victim of virulent politics”.

“Alamieyeseigha became the victim of great hypocrisy masquerading as nationalism and anti-corruption fight,” Ibori said in a statement signed on his behalf by Tony Eluemunor, his spokesman.

“Alamieyeseigha was lied against, as heaps upon heaps of untruths were piled on him, and national hysteria replaced public discourse whenever the subject was Alamieyeseigha.

“He was plotted against by those who swore they were fighting on the side of good even though they had taken high seats in the devil’s court.

“How many people would believe that Alamieyeseigha had only one house? And that is in his village, Amassoma! One day, no matter how long the delay, Alamieyeseigha’s real story would be told, the truth about him would be unearthed and the world would know the kind of virulent politics he was victim of.”

Ibori showered encomiums on Alamieyeseigha, recalling his agitation for resource control and fiscal federalism.

“We were not just colleagues in the governors forum from 1999, in the man I found a boundless and dependable warrior in the battle for the cause of the Niger Delta. He was fearless, forthright, outspoken and dedicated his life to the causes he believed would benefit his people,” Ibori said.

“In fact, he was consumed by the cause of the Ijaw people, the degradation of their environment and collective psyche. He was in a hurry to see that the injustice under which they laboured be redressed; and he was ready to bear any pain, pay any price, to see that their day of liberation arrived fast.”

“Rest in peace great Ijaw leader. Rest in peace, the Governor General of the Ijaw nation. May God grant your family and the Ijaw people the grace to bear this monumental loss.”

Alamieyesiegha died from cardiac arrest induced by high blood pressure and diabetes on Saturday after falling into a coma and was rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, where he was reportedly placed on a life support machine. Follow us on twitter @thecableng

Ex-Convict Alamieyeseigha To Forfeit $600,000 US Mansion, $400,000 Cash, As US Justice Department Implements “Kleptocracy Initiative”

Former governor of Bayelsa and convicted money launderer, DSP Alamieyeseigha will be losing his mansion in the Potomac area of Maryland, as he could not pay his annual real estate tax to the state.

Mr. Alamieyeseigha, popular known as “Alams,” bought the property from his looting of Bayelsa State resources. That led to his arrest in the United Kingdom in 2006, from which he jumped bail dressed as a grandmother.

Officials of the state of Maryland Assessment and Taxation department told SaharaReporters that Alams owed the state some $10,000 in real estate taxes.

They said the property, which is located 504 Pleasant Drive, Rockville, MD 20850-5879 belongs to Solomon & Peters Ltd, an offshore front company used by the ex-convict to purchase the property in 2003 while he was the governor of Bayelsa state. Solomon $ Peters Limited in registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Alams’ legal troubles led to the elevation of Goodluck Jonathan to the governorship of that state, and soon after, to national prominence when he was singlehandedly selected by President Olusegun Obasanjo as presidential running mate to Umaru Yar’Adua. He was later arrested in the UK for money laundering but fled to Nigeria, where he was arrested and prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after members of the Bayelsa State assembly impeached him.

In 2005, Mr. Alamieyeseigha’s daughter, Oyindounbra, also bought a house in Whittier, California, where she attended a Community College. In that same year, she sold the house for $1.7 before relocating to Nigeria.

Maryland officials told SaharaReporters that Mr. Alamiseyeseigha has not paid his property taxes for almost a year.

Interestingly, the same property in Maryland is being recovered by the Obama administration through the US Department of Justice’s “Kleptocracy Initiative”. In March this year, the office of the US Attorney General filed to forfeit the assets of Mr. Alamieyeseigha in the US. The Potomac home, which is valued at $600,000, and another $400,000 belonging to the disgraced Governor was also found in a brokerage account at the Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC account in Massachusetts.

If and when the civil proceedings are concluded, the US government plans to repatriate the stolen monies to Nigeria.

“Funds of this nature that are repatriated to Nigeria ought to be put directly into specific public projects that are negotiated between the United Nations and the Nigeria government,” a newspaper columnist told SaharaReporters today. “Otherwise, how does one know that the funds do not return to Alams through Nigeria’s own Kleptocracy Highway?”