Civil rights activists in Niger-Delta yesterday converged in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to mourn the demise of the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Documentation and Strategies, Dr. Oronto Natei Douglas.

The groups embarked on Minority rights rally and walked round the major streets on Yenagoa in honour of the late Douglas.

The activists in separate speeches described the late Presidential aide as the pillar of the Niger Delta struggled who contributed greatly to the liberation of the region.

Human Rights Groups present at the rally held in Yenagoa included, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Centre for Environmental Human Rights and Development.

Others included Agape Birth Rights, Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, Ogoni Solidarity Group and Ogbia Study Group

Speaking shortly after the solidarity rally and commemoration of late Ijaw icon, Coordinator, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Yenagoa, Chief Nengi James extolled, saying that Oronto Douglas was the engine room of the Ijaw Youth Council IYC.

Chief James said late Oronto masterminded the Kaiama declaration and stood for the truth and the welfares of the youths.

James said the late President Jonathan aide died as an activist for the region and not as coward.

The CLO Coordinator who described Oronto as a patriot and a true environmental activist fought for the liberation of the region and stood for the just and less privileged.

He also described late environmental activists as a philanthropist for building libraries and encouraging education for the less privileged in the region, and mourned the sudden demise of Douglas.

Also speaking, Project Officer, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Comrade Alagoa Morris, said the late Oronto Douglas stood for peace and not for violent struggles in the region.

Alagoa said late Douglas was a man who believe that Nigeria as a nation should dialogue for peace rather than engage for war.

According to the activists, Oronto 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, 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 died when the region and the nation needed him the more, just as he said human should not celebrate man at death, but when alive.

•Photo shows Douglas

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