Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (DSP) (16 November 1952 – 10 October 2015) was a Nigerian politician who was
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Bayelsa State
Bayelsa is one of the states in the South-South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta region. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. Yenag ...
in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2005.
Background
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was born on 16 November 1952 in
Amassoma,
Ogboin North Local Government Area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
,
Bayelsa State
Bayelsa is one of the states in the South-South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta region. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. Yenag ...
. He attended the Bishop Dimeari Grammar School,
Yenagoa
Yenagoa is a Local Government Area and capital city of Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria. It is located at the southern part of the country at coordinates .
The LGA has an area of 706 km² and a population of 352,285 at the 2006 census.
Th ...
. He joined the
Nigerian Defence Academy
The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is a military university based in Kaduna, Nigeria that trains officer cadets for commissioning into one of the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The duration of t ...
as a Cadet Officer in 1974, then joined the
Nigerian Air Force
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the youngest branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
It is one of the largest in Africa, consisting of about 15,000 personnel and aircraft including eight Chinese Che ...
, where he served in the department of Logistics and Supply. He held various air force positions in
Enugu
Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...
,
Makurdi
Makurdi is the capital of Benue State, located in central Nigeria, and part of the Middle Belt region of central Nigeria. The city is situated on the south bank of the Benue River. In 2016, Makurdi and the surrounding areas had an estimated popula ...
,
Kaduna
Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...
and
Ikeja
Ikeja is the capital city of Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. Its population, as of the 2006 census, is 313,196. Prior to the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, clean and quiet residential and commercia ...
. Alamieyeseigha retired from the air force in 1992 as a Squadron Leader.
[
]
After leaving the air force he became the Sole Administrator of Pabod Supplies
Port Harcourt. Later he became Head of Budget, Planning, Research and Development of the
National Fertiliser Company (NAFCON).
[
]
Governor of Bayelsa State
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was elected as Governor of Bayelsa State in May 1999 as a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(PDP). He was re-elected in 2003.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to:
Given name
*Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007
*Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor
Middle name
*Abubakar Atiku ...
attended the March 2003 event that kicked of his campaign for reelection in 2003.
Corruption Charges
United Kingdom
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 four homes in London worth an alleged £10 million.
His state's monthly federal allocation for the last six years has been in the order of £32 million.
He jumped bail in December 2005 from the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
by allegedly disguising himself as a woman, though Alamieyeseigha denies this claim.
Alamieyeseigha was impeached on allegations of corruption on 9 December 2005.[
]
Nigeria
On July 26, 2007, Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty before a Nigerian court to six charges and was sentenced to two years in prison on each charge; however, because the sentences were set to run concurrently and the time was counted from the point of his arrest nearly two years before the sentences, his actual sentence was relatively short. Many of his assets were ordered to be forfeited to the Bayelsa state government. According to Alamieyeseigha, he only pleaded guilty due to his age and would have fought the charges had he been younger. On July 27, just hours after being taken to prison, he was released due to time already served.
In April 2009, Alamieyeseigha pledged a donation of 3,000,000 naira to the Akassa Development Foundation.
In December 2009, the federal government hired a British law firm to help dispose of four expensive properties acquired by Alamieyeseigha in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Alamieyeseigha had bought one of these properties for £1,750,000.00 in July 2003, paying in cash. Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha used it as his London residence, and as the registered office of
Solomon and Peters Inc.
United States
On June 28, 2012, the United States (US) Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that it had executed an asset forfeiture order on $401,931 in a Massachusetts brokerage fund, traceable to Alamieyeseigha. US prosecutors filed court papers in April 2011 targeting the Massachusetts brokerage fund and a $600,000 home in Rockville, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, which they alleged were the proceeds of corruption. A motion for default judgement and civil forfeiture was granted by a Massachusetts federal district judge in early June 2012. The forfeiture order was the first to be made under the DoJ's fledgling Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative
Kleptocracy (from Greek κλέπτης ''kléptēs'', "thief", κλέπτω ''kléptō'', "I steal", and -κρατία -''kratía'' from κράτος ''krátos'', "power, rule") is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political ...
.
Pardon
On 12 March 2013, Alamieyeseigha was pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed by President Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
, but his pardoning was criticised by many.
Death
Alamieyeseigha was reported to have died of cardiac arrest at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital
Background
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital was established in April 1980 and was officially commissioned by the federal government in 1985, it is a major tertiary-care teaching and research facility in Rivers State. It is as a resu ...
on 10 October 2015. However, in a later interview, Bayelsa State Information Commissioner, Esueme Kikile revealed that the former Governor "died of complications arising from high blood pressure and diabetes which affected his kidney."
See also
*James Ibori
James Onanefe Ibori (born 4 August 1959) is a Nigerian politician who was Governor of Delta State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. An ethnic Urhobo by descent, Ibori is a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a leade ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alamieyeseigha, Diepreye
1952 births
2015 deaths
Governors of Bayelsa State
Political scandals
Peoples Democratic Party state governors of Nigeria
Recipients of Nigerian presidential pardons
Nigerian politicians convicted of corruption
People convicted of money laundering
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
Nigerian people imprisoned abroad
Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Corruption in Nigeria
Deaths from kidney failure
Nigerian Air Force officers