Diri: I was told I won’t become governor without performing certain sacrifices

Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, says he was threatened that he would not become governor unless he performed “certain traditional sacrifices”.

Diri spoke on Friday during the annual day of thanksgiving organised by  Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA, which took place in Sampou community.

During the event, the Bayelsa governor narrated how a senior citizen in 2020 invited him to Abuja and advised him to perform sacrifices to boost his chances of becoming governor.

He said he rejected the offer and paid the sum of $10,000 that was used to facilitate the logistics of the marabouts to Nigeria from Senegal.

Diri said the senior citizen was shocked when the supreme court delivered a judgment that was in his favour.

“Let me reveal to you why it is important to thank God and have faith in Him. Sometime ago, a senior citizen of this country invited me to Abuja and asked me to perform certain sacrifices but I declined,” the governor said.

“I told him my faith in God would not allow me to do it. He got angry and told me I would never become governor

“He told me that he had spent $10,000 to bring the people for the sacrifice and asked for a refund, which I obliged.

“When the supreme court’s pronouncement came, the man was shocked and could not call me. Sadly, he passed on after some time.

“The story I have narrated was witnessed by my deputy and a friend in Abuja as both of them accompanied me to visit the senior citizen.”

THE 2019 ELECTION

In November 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared David Lyon, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Bayelsa governorship election.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Douye Diri, its governorship candidate, had filed a suit against Lyon, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, his running mate; and INEC, seeking the disqualification of the APC deputy governorship candidate.

On February 13, 2020, the supreme court sacked Lyon less than 24 hours before his inauguration as governor of Bayelsa.

The supreme court had affirmed the verdict of a federal high court disqualifying Degi-Eremienyo, Lyon’s running mate, for submitting forged credentials to INEC

The apex court ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Lyon and to re-issue another to the candidate with the second highest number of votes.

The decision led to the emergence of Diri, who came second in the November 2019 election, as the governor of Bayelsa.