Dear Governor Douye Diri, before I say anything, allow me to observe one moment of silence for the patriots recently gone to the Great Beyond. One moment of silence for Ken Kayama, one moment of silence for Foingha Jephthah, one moment of silence for Senator J.K Brambaifa, and one moment of silence for the most recent loss, Vivian Ere, the first female member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
We are compelled to be sober, and to contemplate what the Wordsworthian poet called ‘the deep profundities’ of life. We come under obligation to repeat questions we have asked before. Why are we here on the face of this earth? What is the whole purpose of life? Where do we go from here? These are questions that still baffle philosophers and scientists alike.
Like an everyday thinker, I sat back a few days ago to cogitate on my own life so far, Your Excellency. I thought back to everything I have ever said or done, and came to a few brutal facts. To start with, I am a sinner. I have sinned against God and man. I have done things I ought not to have done, and left suspended things I ought to have done with express despatch. I have followed too much the devices and desires of my heart. I have offended against the holy laws of God.
And there is no righteousness in me. If I promise to attend an event at the Banquet Hall, I may not show up, held in thrall as I am by the next epistle. I stand in need of forgiveness for all my sins. By the same token, I hereby forgive all those who have sinned against me. I forgive you, Your Excellency, for holding on to my portion for so long. It is time for you to release it to me. I thirst.
Congratulations, by the way, on your sixth anniversary in office as Governor of Glory Land. For the first time since you took office, you had to celebrate the landmark event without your deputy by your side. I was reminded of such a time when you and Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo used to kneel on both sides of the giant billboard at Tombia Roundabout. The message was simple. In God we trust. Then you began to kneel all by yourself, without Ewhrudjakpo. He was cropped out of the picture, and I often wondered why. It was as if the billboard was foretelling the future.
Death is a terrible thing, Your Excellency. Now we see you, now we don’t. The author of the Psalms says we are like grass. The wind passes over it, and it is gone, and even its place knows it no more. One minute you are kneeling alongside someone, next minute you are kneeling all alone. There was a time when I used to kneel beside my elder brother, Navy Captain Walter Aye Feghabo, long before he became Chief Amain. Now I kneel alone, with all humility, in the silence of my heart. Recall that he passed away two months before Ewhrudjakpo.
I can afford to tell you that the family has taken a date to perform the funeral rites of the late captain. His remains will be laid to rest on 24 April 2026, in Nembe. Two days to the event, on 22 April, a service of songs will be held in his honour, hopefully at the Banquet Hall, in Yenagoa. As head chief of the Amain-Kien-Alagoa-Koki group of war canoe chieftaincy houses of Nembe, the burial ceremony will run the full traditional course of seven days, lasting till the second day of May. I have no doubt that a formal invitation to that effect has reached your desk by now.
Chief Walter Feghabo-Amain was a prominent son of Bayelsa State, Your Excellency. Not only was he a governorship aspirant, he was humble enough to serve the government of Alamieyeseigha, and subsequently the government of Dickson, when he didn’t get a chance to do in Bayelsa what he did in neighbouring States. He was in charge of the Project Monitoring and Implementation Directorate, in both instances.
As you know too well, he was the first Military Administrator of Ebonyi State, and the last Military Administrator of Delta State. I have no doubt whatsoever that you will honour him with one moment of silence. More than that, I am hopeful that you will support the bereaved family, and receive the distinguished delegations that will troop into Bayelsa from all over Nigeria to pay their last respects to the fallen patriot.
Lest I forget, Your Excellency, something historic happened in Yenagoa on the day you marked six years in office. It was a low-key celebration, by all accounts, what with the interment of the remains of Ewhrudjakpo two weeks before at Ofoni. Sorrow, like an inclement pall of dark clouds, was hanging in the air. Grief was still aching in the heart of your government. Not even St Valentine could alter the mood at the Ecumenical Center.
But at the Samson Siasia Stadium, another enchanting story of love was unfolding, one that Ewhrudjakpo would have been glad to witness. Ovieteme George, that famous Arise TV reporter with a grey dot on the front lobe of his hair, was hosting a party for his beloved wife who happened to have been born on 14 February. It was also a perfect occasion for him to extend love to his neighbours, his fellow labourers in the vineyard of journalism.
Ovieteme George was kind and thoughtful enough to host retired colleagues. He did what government could not do. He did what came as a big surprise for his own fellow journalists. He recognised the efforts of every retired journalist, and gave each one of them a costly plaque to go home with, and a giant cheque of one million naira to hold. His motive was to acknowledge the thankless labour of journalists, and to start a reward system.
The clincher came when he singled out five journalists above the age of eighty, and blessed each one of them with a gargantuan cheque of five million naira each. He got Tantita Security Services Limited to make a worthwhile overture in corporate social responsibility, acting in the best interest of retired pen pushers. By so doing, one individual brought relief to many families and won for himself a litany of goodwill prayers from the beneficiaries.
I have not expressed enough gratitude to Ovieteme George for counting me as a journalist retired from the Bayelsa State civil service, and giving me due recognition for my humble efforts. That is one thing that the Bayelsa State government is still finding very difficult to do, in spite of all the encouragement from the Industrial Court of Nigeria.
You will recall, Your Excellency, that you asked me pointedly, when last we met face to face, if indeed I was a civil servant in the Bayelsa State civil service. In one bound, I reeled out my credentials as a pioneer civil servant of Bayelsa State with an identity card, and a record of performance across a span of three decades, if not more.
One journalist has confirmed this in a very big way, and demonstrated what you should do. Respect the ruling of the court, Your Excellency. What you could not do as a PDP Governor, you can do as an APC Governor. Give me the fruits of my labour, and get a big thumbs-up from the God in whom you trust. Excuse me. I thirst.
