GOVERNOR Douye Diri’s efforts to combat insecurity have been commended by former President Goodluck Jonathan, who stated that the Bayelsa leader’s re-election means the state would be a lot safer.
Jonathan, a former governor of the oil-rich state, gave a speech today while in the capital of Yenagoa. This is about a week after the governor comfortably won a hotly contested election.
The previous president acknowledged Diri’s victory in the exercise and added that the progress accomplished in reducing insecurity would have been lost if Douye had lost.
“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,” he said during the gathering.
“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 recounted how his cousin was abducted and murdered, but he was hopeful that things will get better soon since Diri was returning as the state’s governor.
“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,” he added.
“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 Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had given Diri his certificate of return earlier in the day for a second term in office. He will take the oath of office next year, for a another four years.
