Former President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, for winning last Saturday’s off-cycle election and efforts at tackling insecurity in the state.
Jonathan, during a visit to Diri in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital, on Friday, said his re-election means the state would be a lot safer, stressing that the gains made in curbing insecurity would have been lost if the governor had lost the keenly contested poll.
According to the former governor of the oil-rich state, he had made plans to relocate his mother to Abuja if Diri loses in the election.
He further called on the opposition parties to support Diri to ensure that the state moves forward and dividends of democracy are delivered to the people.
While recounting how his cousin was kidnapped and killed, Jonathan expressed optimism that with Diri returning as the governor of the state, the insecurity situation would soon be a thing of the past.
He said, “We don’t want to go into unnecessary crisis in the state. Results have been declared, and we believe the election was conducted. We believe the governor won the election and we plead that people should accept it and work with the governor. Let all of us support him so that the state will move ahead.
“There should be nothing that will push the state backward. We should think about the development of the state starting from the issue of peace and security in the state which, within this last period, three years plus, there are significant improvements in terms of cultism and kidnapping and so on and so forth.
“I was saying before this election that if Diri loses this election, I would have relocated my mother to Abuja.
“My cousin was kidnapped two times on one of those occasions, one of my cousins, Solo, was killed because they threw him into the river and he didn’t know how to swim.
“So, we’ve passed through hell in this state and we’ve seen a little light at the end of the tunnel. So, people should calm down, and allow Diri to focus on governance so that he will be able to propel this state forward so that we will benefit as citizens of the state.”
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