Jonathan: I’d have relocated my mother to Abuja if Diri wasn’t re-elected

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he would have relocated his mother to Abuja, the nation’s capital, if Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, had lost the November 11 governorship election in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had, on Monday, November 13, declared Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship election in Bayelsa State.

The governor polled 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 110,108 votes.

However, Jonathan, while speaking during a visit to Diri in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Friday, commended the governor for tackling insecurity in the state, saying the latter’s re-election means the state would be a lot safer.

The former president 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.”

Jonathan, who recalled how his cousin was kidnapped and killed in Bayelsa State, however, expressed optimism that with Diri re-elected as the governor of the state, the situation would soon become a thing of the past.

He added: “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.”

The Star