Chief Pere Ajunwa, the Presidential Candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party of Nigeria (LDPN) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections is dead.
Though the cause of his death could not be immediately ascertained, he was said to have died Monday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The death of Chief Ajunwa was confirmed to newsmen in a statement issued in Yenagoa yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa Governor, Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
Governor Seriake Dickson in the statement, described the demise as sad, shocking and a monumental loss to the government and people of Bayelsa State. Dickson, in a condolence message to the bereaved family, also described the death of Chief Ajuwa as a great and painful loss to the Ijaw Nation and the political landscape of Nigeria.
He recalled Chief Ajuwa’s foray into politics, which saw him contest for the governorship of the old Rivers State and later for the presidency, making him one of the very few minorities of the Ijaw stock to run for the highest office in the land. According to him, “the efforts of the late Egbesu of Egbesubiri greatly inspired the younger generation of Ijaw politician and gave a greater insight and meaning to why we should legitimately fight for what rightly belonged to us, without resorting to violence.”
The governor also recalled how Chief Pere Ajuwa supported every genuine effort of the Ijaw people to be properly recognized and be accorded their pride of place politically, economically, and in other areas of human endavour by using his personal resources to fight for the political and economic emancipation of the minorities of the South-South, especially his tribesmen and women, who had suffered years of neglect and deprivation.
The statement added that, even though Chief Ajuwa is dead, his worthy legacies and strides as an Ijaw patriot and a fighter for the rights of the minorities of this country would live long after him. Dickson prayed for the peaceful repose of his soul and for God Almighty to grant the family he has left behind, the strength, courage and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
.vanguard