Barely five days after the widely spread report of the death of former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, a large number of Nigerians still think it is a charade of some sort.
This might be as a result of the escapades of the 62-year-old politician who has been at the fore front of various controversies in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Going through online news pages, some of the comments you can readily find under the story of Alamieyeseigha’s death are: ‘Alams is not dead. Stop the lies‘,‘we cannot be fooled again, it’s all a lie’, ‘hmmn..if he can disguise as a woman to escape justice, he can also fake his death to escape justice this time’…. All these and many more are some of the things a keen observer would get to find all over the news space about his death.
These views are not unconnected to the character of the ‘late’ politician. Nigerians truly do not forget occurrences easily, not even if time has overshadowed it, history still has a way of making everything look quite new.
Ten years ago, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was detained in London on charges of money laundering in September 2005. At the time of his arrest, Metropolitan police found about £1m in cash in his London home. Later they found a total of £1.8m ($3.2m) in cash and bank accounts. He was found to own real estate in London worth an alleged £10 million.
Alamieyeseigha however jumped bail in December 2005 from the United Kingdom by allegedly disguising himself as a woman, although he denied it
Now some Nigerians believe Alamieyeseigha’s supposed death is literally untrue. Checkout some tweets below.
It grieves my heart that all I can remember of late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s legacy, is his escape from London, dressed like a woman.
— Precious (@adeola_pumpkin) October 10, 2015
80% of Nigerians don’t believe Diepreye Alamieyeseigha is dead. What a world…
— Favour Udoma (@MkpoUdoma) October 10, 2015
@MrAbuSidiq Imagine how bad the situation is. People doubting the death of a former state govfor character related reasons. Na waooo
— Odu Obodumu (@OduObodumu) October 10, 2015
When U realise dat Alams allegedlly escaped d UK as a woman, you’re forced to think deeply about his rumoured death. Alams RIP if u’re dead.
— Charles Nweke (@CINweke) October 10, 2015
Asari Dokubo new Photo-Release on #BringBackOurGirls and Missing #ChibokGirs *****spoof pic.twitter.com/cyGzuoe3k3
— Kayode Ogundamisi (@ogundamisi) October 14, 2015
Alams, Alams, Alams, you cannot die now o. Return back to life. We need you to answer questions. You were the next in line for questioning.
— Sunday Oguntola (@sunday_oguntola) October 10, 2015
First time UK made noise, Alams became a woman. They hve made noise again and he has turned up ‘dead’ Can we try for a 3rd? Return of Tupac?
— Amina Ebele (@DeliciousAmina) October 10, 2015
#Alamieyeseigha, if u’re really dead, may God have mercy on ur soul. If u’re not, then I hope the plastic surgeon is a fucking magician!
— Amina Ebele (@DeliciousAmina) October 10, 2015