The final rites for former presidential adviser and human rights activist, Oronto Natie Douglas, commenced Wednesday, April 29, 2015 in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, as the human rights community converged to mourn his demise and eulogised him.
Activists described the late presidential aide as a pillar of the Niger Delta struggle who contributed greatly to wellbeing of the region.
Speaking shortly after a solidarity rally in Yenagoa, Coordinator, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Yenagoa, Chief Nengi James, described Douglas as the engine room of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC).
James said late Douglas masterminded the Kiama declaration and stood for the welfare of the youths.
He said the late President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide died as an activist for the region and not as a coward.
The CLO coordinator described him as a patriot and a true environmental activist who fought for the liberation of the region and stood for the just and less privileged.
Describing the late environmental activist as a philanthropist for building libraries and encouraging education for the less privileged in the region, James lamented the sudden demise of Douglas.
Also speaking, Project Officer, Environmental Rights Acts (ERA), Yenagoa Head, Alagoa Morris, said the late Douglas stood for peace and not for violent struggles in the region.
Morris, who was in tears, said Douglas was a man who believed that Nigeria as a nation should dialogue for peace rather than engage in war.
According to him, Douglas was a dogged fighter, a focused activist and the real engine room of the struggle for Niger Delta and a founding father of Ijaw Youths Council (IYC).
The project officer of ERA said the late Oronto Douglas was a light in the liberation of the Ijaw people in the region.
He regretted that the late special adviser to Jonathan passed on when the region and the nation needed him most, just as he said human beings should not celebrate men at death, but when alive.