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From: Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said the death of Chief Gordon Bozimo and Dr. Joseph Egberika was a big blow to the agitation of restructuring and resource control by the Ijaw nation. Bozimo, 67, a former chairman of the Governing Board of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and member of the Board of Trustees, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) died in June in Arkansas, the United States. While the Ijaw nation was still in mourning, Dr. Egebrika, also an advocate of resource control for the Ijaw nation passed on. Governor Dickson, who led a high-powered delegation to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to condole with the families of the duo, said the Ijaw nation had lost two great pillars of the agitation for restructuring. Those on the entourage of the governor included Chief Francis Doupkola, Chief T. K. Okorotie, Chief George Okeiranya and Dr. George Fente. Others were Prof. Steve Azaiki, Chief Godwin Odumgba, Mrs Maria Ebikake, Secretary to the State Government, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff and the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Hon. Jonathan Obuebite. At the home of Bozimo, Governor Dickson described the deceased as ‘a patriot and committed Ijaw leader who made massive contributions to the development of the Ijaw Nation’. Dickson, while speaking at the home of Egberika extolled his virtues of integrity, selfless service and dedication to the struggle for a better Ijaw Nation. He lamented that the death of the duo has left a huge vacuum in the clamour for restructuring, unity and resource control which people of the Ijaw Nation are seriously yearning for. Dickson hinted that he will formally receive the body of Bozimo in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital as part of the burial arrangement being put in place by the family. |