An elder statesman and former Minister, Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas is dead. Report said he died in a private hospital in Abuja from an undisclosed ailment on Monday, at the age of 82.
He married to Muriel and blessed with 12 children and many grandchildren.
The Ijaw icon was born on May 8, 1939, in Abonnema in the Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
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Chief Graham-Douglas was the son of a native court judge in Abonnema and his Napo Graham-Douglas was the first indigenous Attorney-General of Nigeria.
In 1986, Graham-Douglas was appointed Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Culture by the Rivers State government. In this role, he completed the Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre, founded the Sports Institute of Isaka and initiated construction of the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt.
He also gained approval to establish the Rivers State College of Science and Technology. He created, produced and directed the first Rivers Carnival, Carnival ’88, with the theme of Unity in Cultural Diversity.
In 1989, the military Administrator of Ibrahim Babangida appointed him Federal Minister for Social Development, Youths and Sports.
He was later moved to the Ministry of Aviation, where he oversaw the deregulation of the aviation industry.
In 1992, Graham-Douglas became chairman of the Southern Minorities Movement, one of the groups that eventually merged into the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He was a candidate in the PDP primaries for the presidential nomination in 1998 but lost to Olusegun Obasanjo.
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President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Graham-Douglas as Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity in June 1999.
In July 2000, Graham-Douglas was moved to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In November 2000 he headed a delegation that visited China, where he signed the 2000-2002 Executive Plan of Cultural and Educational Exchange between China and Nigeria.
In December 2000, he hosted the Africa Travel Association’s Fourth Ecotourism Symposium in Abuja.
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