The late Bayelsa Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, rejected pressure and refused to follow Governor Douye Diri when the latter defected, along with other state officials, from the PDP to the APC on 3 November.
Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the 60-year-old deputy governor of Bayelsa State, who passed away on Thursday, 11 December, was a faithful member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) till death.
Some five years ago, such a description of any Nigerian politician would not have held much significance. But not so today. With the way the PDP politicians - governors, senators, House of Representatives members, and others - are hurriedly leaving the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), staying faithful to the PDP, especially when you are a subordinate to a governor who has switched parties, could be viewed as a virtue.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo refused to follow Governor Douye Diri when the latter defected, along with other state officials, from the PDP to the APC on 3 November.
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Mr Ewhrudjakpo courageously sued the Bayelsa House of Assembly to forestall a rumoured plot to replace him with a compliant politician who would have gladly accepted being in the APC with the governor. He later withdrew the suit to pave the way for an out-of-court settlement after Mr Diri's intervention.
Before April, the PDP controlled about 11 states in Nigeria. The party now has only five governors after the recent defection of the governors of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Osun.
Apart from Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, who is now in the Accord Party, all the others are in the APC.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo slumped in his office at Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital, on 11 December and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, where doctors pronounced him dead.
The late deputy governor was reportedly a workaholic. At 11:48 a.m. on 11 December, he posted on Facebook photos of his meeting with the UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed, who was visiting the Government House, Yenagoa.
"We are pleased to note that the country representative is abreast with our health programme in the state, according to her observations during visits to selected health facilities combined with spontaneous conversations with mothers and caregivers, affirming the encouraging reports UNICEF has consistently received regarding Bayelsa's impressive progress in immunisation," Mr Ewhrudjakpo had said of the visit.
"Tagging Bayelsa a champion of healthcare delivery and a shining spot in Nigeria is a major feat for us because we believe that the best way to respond to commendations is to double down on our efforts by doing more work," he added.
The PDP, while mourning his passing, described the late Ewhrudjakpo as "a trusted, faithful party man".
"While alive, Senator Ewhrudjakpo was an honest and consistent politician who believed in and practised politics with principle.
"He was a person of conviction, not convenience; a leader whose life was anchored on belief, integrity, and strength of character. He held firmly to these virtues until his final moments," Ini Ememobong, the PDP national publicity secretary, stated in a statement on Thursday.
In fairness to Governor Diri, he did not harass Mr Ewhrudjakpo, unlike many Nigerian politicians, for refusing to join him in the APC.
"We came together as friends and brothers," Mr Diri said in a tribute to his departed deputy. "Our working relationship was not that of a boss and subordinate, but it was that of a brother and friend, yet recognising that I was his principal."
From commissioner to senator, and deputy governor
Mr Ewhrudjakpo, in 2019, contested and won the Bayelsa West Senatorial District election as the PDP candidate. He served as a senator from 11 June 2019 to 11 February 2020, before being elected deputy governor of Bayelsa. He had previously served as the commissioner for works and infrastructure under Mr Diri's predecessor, Seriake Dickson, who is now a senator.
Senator Dickson and Mr Ewhrudjakpo came a long way together. Both refused to defect from the PDP to the APC. Mr Ewhrudjakpo was Mr Dickson's personal assistant when the latter was Bayelsa's attorney-general and commissioner for justice from 2006 to 2007, and also Mr Dickson's senior legislative aide when he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 2007.
Senator Dickson said the day Ewhrudjakpo died would remain one of the saddest in his life.
"I have been saddened and heartbroken since his death was confirmed.
"We have lost a most selfless, dedicated, honest and loyal public servant and politician. I have personally lost a dependable, loyal and principled mentee who was committed to the causes we pursue in public service -- service to God and humanity, and to ourselves the least.
"Dr Ewhrudjakpo was clearly the best among my political mentees. A rare combination of competence, intellect, loyalty and selflessness," said the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, who quickly withdrew from the Senate's screening of President Bola Tinubu's ambassadorial nominees and flew from Abuja to Yenagoa when he heard that the deputy governor had slumped.
His birth, education, and career
Mr Ewhrudjakpo was born on 5 September 1965 in Ofoni, Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa. He attended Ebikimiye Primary School, Kpakiama, where he graduated in 1976 with a First School Leaving Certificate.
He proceeded to Government College Bomadi in 1982, but completed his secondary education at Community Secondary School, Ofoni, where he obtained his West African School Certificate in 1987.
Two years later, he was admitted to study Community Health at the Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He obtained a diploma from the institution in 1991.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo built a career in community health and administration afterwards, serving in various positions in Rivers and Bayelsa states.
For instance, he had served as the head of administration in the Port Harcourt City Council Primary Health Care Department and later as assistant coordinator for monitoring and evaluation in Bayelsa State.
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He would rise to become a key figure in the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, where he emerged as secretary-general and later as executive secretary.
In 1996, he obtained his first bachelor's degree in Secretarial Administration from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo obtained a master's degree in Business Administration in 1998 and another master's degree in Management Option in 2000, both from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology.
Still at the university, he obtained a Bachelor of Law degree in 2007 and was called to the Nigerian Bar two years later.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo began his law practice in 2009, serving as principal partner at GoldMark Chambers, while also continuing to work in public institutions, advisory bodies, and policy groups.
The lawyer completed his academic journey in December 2023, earning a doctorate in human rights and labour law from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology.
Mr Ewhrudjakpo got married to his heartthrob, Beatrice, in August 2004. The marriage produced four children.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan said the deputy governor had been "a devoted steward of Bayelsa, a patriot, and a loyal servant of our state and nation."
"Throughout his years in public service, he demonstrated an unwavering passion for the welfare of our people and earned the respect and admiration of many across the country," Mr Jonathan said.
