President Jonathan’s top aide, Oronto Douglas, is dead

President Jonathan’s top aide, Oronto Douglas, is dead

Oronto Douglas, the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on
Research, Documentation and Strategy, is dead.
Mr. Douglas, 49, a presidency source said, passed on at the State House clinic
at 4:58 a.m. Friday.
The real cause of his death is unknown at this time, but the presidential
adviser is said to have managed a terminal illness for sometime, and had,
from time to time, sought treatments abroad for prolonged periods.
Born 1966, Mr. Douglas is regularly described as one of Mr. Jonathan’s most
brilliant and influential aides, documenting the President’s achievements
and legacies, and helping coordinate parallel media and campaign strategies
for the presidency.
“He was one of those who had the most far-reaching influence on President
Jonathan,” a presidential aide said.
A lawyer and committed environmentalist, Mr. Douglas was a commissioner
for information in Bayelsa and was a delegate from the state for the 2005
National Political Reform Conference organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo
administration.
He emerged one of the shinning stars of that conference as the Niger Delta
region pushed for improved revenue allocation to the area to mitigate the
effect of oil exploitation.
Mr. Douglas last Facebook post was on March 8 when he shared the video of
Mr. Jonathan’s interview with foreign news channel, Al-Jazeera, in the
runup to the March 28 presidential election.

“The Conviction with which President Jonathan says “I Will Not Lose the
Election’ is compelling almost to the point of prophesy. This is a President
well connected to his people,” he wrote in what appears his analysis of Mr.
Jonathan’s performance in the interview.

Below is how Mr. Douglas described himself on his Facebook page.
Oronto Douglas; is a leading human rights attorney in Nigeria,
and served as one of the lawyers on the defense team for the
Ogoni leader Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed by Nigeria’s
military rulers in 1995. Douglas co- founded Africa’s foremost
environmental movement, the Environmental Rights Action/
Friends of the Earth Nigeria and has served in the board of
several non profit organizations within and outside Nigeria.
Though he has been arrested and tortured by successive
military regimes, he continues to work for and speak out on
issues of social justice in a corporate- military state.
He was the first Niger Delta activist to be hosted by a serving
American President – he presented the Niger-Delta struggle at
the White House to President Bill Clinton. Douglas who advises
the Nigerian Vice President on strategic issues of community
and the environment, is a fellow of both the George Bell
Institute (England) and the International Forum on
Globalization (USA). Widely traveled, Douglas has presented
papers in over 200 international conferences and has visited
over 50 countries to speak and present on human rights and the
environment. He is the author of several works including the
ground breaking WHERE VULTURES FEAST, Shell and human
rights in the Niger Delta which he co-authored with his friend
Ike Okonta.
Environmentalist and Special Adviser to the President on
Research, Documentation and Strategy, Oronto Douglas has
been named among the 20 most influential writers, thinkers,
and activists in the world. Mr Douglas was listed in a recent
book “Political Awakenings: Conversations with History” by
Harry Kreiser the Executive Director of the Institute of
International Studies, University of California. Mr Douglas was
selected with 19 others, from 485 interviews of people which
the book described as “distinguished men and women who by
the power of their intellect and strength of character shape the
world.” Mr Douglas made the Science, Food and The
Environment: Movement for Justice category which comprised
select individuals that have challenged corporate power which
seeks to disproportionately reap the benefits of science and
technology to the detriment of the society.