Kinsmen of the late former national security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, yesterday registered their protest against the Bayelsa State government’s plan to bury him in Yenagoa, the state capital, saying it is against the culture and tradition of the Ijaw nation to bury a man outside his community. They further threatened to boycott the ceremony if he was buried in Yenagoa, an action that has sparked security concerns in the state.?
“It is against our culture for an Ijaw man to be buried outside his community. At your death, if your body is found, tradition demands that you are buried in the community. If Azazi were to be alive, he would not allow his body to be buried outside his hometown. I expected Mr. President and the governor to know better. Posterity will always judge those who have taken this decision,” spokesman of Azazi’s Peretorugbene community, Chief Ebike Ebike, said yesterday in Yenagoa. Peretorugbene is in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, had on Tuesday, disclosed that Azazi would be given a state burial in recognition of his service to the state and Nigeria, describing him as a true hero of the Ijaw nation.
“Azazi was a true hero of the Ijaw nation. We are here to pay our deepest respect to a great leader and national icon. For us in Bayesla State, the tragic, unfortunate and untimely death of General Andrew Owoye Azazi (CFRC) has created a huge vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.
We have not only lost a kinsman, big brother, father, grandfather, friend and colleague, the Ijaw nation has clearly lost one of its finest and very best! He was a patriot who gave his all.
“That is why, as a government we did not hesitate to declare a heroic burial for him at the Heroes Park, an exclusive burial and final resting place reserved for true legends and heroes of the state,’’ the governor said.